Digital Commons Network^™

Community College Librarian Needs Assessment: Academic Status And Research Interest, Christine (Mi-Seon) Kim, Stephanie Delano Davis

Publications and Research

This pilot study explores the results of the Spring 2023, “Needs Survey for Community College Librarians” conducted by the Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS).  CJCLS is a section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). One hundred and seventeen individuals participated in the survey. The survey asked community college librarians about their academic employment status and publication requirements, their interest in research, and the support for research available to them at their institutions. The key findings of this research show a broad range of academic status classification among …

The State Of The Unions 2026: A Profile Of Organized Labor In New York City, New York State, And The United States, Ruth Milkman, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

The 2026 State of the Unions report finds that while union density remains strong in New York, membership rates remain largely unchanged, despite renewed organizing, successful strikes and strong public support for labor. Union density stands at 20.5 percent in New York City and 20.9 percent statewide, more than double the national rate of 10 percent, yet well below levels recorded two decades ago. The report also examines the persistent divide between public- and private-sector unionization, the industries and workers sustaining organized labor, and the forces limiting growth. A special section considers Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s labor-friendly record and the opportunities …

The Shrinking Caspian Sea: Eco‐Hydrological Responses To Human And Climate Pressures, Jesse Duku, Mohammad J. Tourian, Marzi Azarderakhsh, Rovshan Abbasov, Ali Mehran, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Stefanos Xenarios, Azara Boschee, Salih Babagiray, Mojtaba Sadegh, Nima Shokri, Ali Nazemi, Alireza Farahmand, Samaneh Ashraf, Temur Khujanazarov, Elmira Hassanzadeh, Dalal Najib, Daniel Placht, Shamshagul Mashtayeva, Ekaterina Rets, Hamid Norouzi, Kaveh Madani, Manoochehr Shirzaei, Hossein Shafizadeh-Moghadam, Chiyuan Miao, Ali Mirchi, Shuo Wang, Amir Aghakouchak

Publications and Research

The Caspian Sea, the Earth's largest inland water body, faces water level decline, drawing comparisons to the collapse of the Aral Sea. Unlike the Aral Sea, the relative roles of climatic variability, hydrological changes, and anthropogenic pressures on the Caspian Sea remain poorly understood. Here, we integrate satellite observations, in situ hydrological records and reanalysis data to examine recent drivers of the Caspian water loss. We show that total river inflow to the Caspian Sea has declined significantly, primarily due to reduced discharge from the Volga River. At the same time, precipitation over the basin has remained broadly stable, while …

Fascism Usa: Class And Identity Politics In The Age Of Trump, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

This essay argues that Trump’s triumph in the 2024 presidential contest represents the consolidation of an oligarchical authoritarian project, backed by a multi-class and (surprisingly, for some) multi-racial electorate. It brought intensified state and freelance attacks on immigrants, labor unions, women, LGBTQ+ people, journalists, civil servants, assorted “political enemies,” and other groups that the MAGA movement targets. It is institutionalizing authoritarian governance structures in ways that will be exceedingly difficult to undo. The paper first addresses the experience of growing up in the shadow of fascism. It analyzes various sectors that supported Trump and the impacts of inflation, incumbency, economic …

Information Sharing, Quality Management, And Firm Performance: The Mediating Role Of Supply Chain Agility, Aamir Rashid, Rizwana Rasheed, Syed Babar Ali

Publications and Research

The fashion industry’s business is becoming increasingly complicated and active. This industry is expected to be highly competitive, particularly in the retail sector. Therefore, this research aims to examine the impact of supply chain information sharing and quality management on firm performance, with supply chain agility as a mediating variable, in the Asian fashion industry. A total of 169 participants from the fashion sector in a developing country were surveyed. The proposed hypotheses were examined using a quantitative approach, employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS to assess and validate the measurement model. The results indicate that …

Resurrecting Natures With Charlotte Smith And Ebony G. Patterson, Leila Walker

Publications and Research

Recent scholarship on the botanically influenced poetry of the early Romantic period, particularly that of Charlotte Smith, has emphasized the genre’s formal engagement with the herbarium, treating botanical poetry as a non-extractive alternative to the violence of specimen collection. Yet such readings isolate the act of specimen collection and poetic return from the larger systems of extraction, translocation, and violence in which they participate. In this article, I read Smith’s Beachy Head alongside Ebony G. Patterson’s recent installation at the New York Botanical Garden, which artistically resurrected extinct species from herbarium specimens and “planted” them among living flora, in order …

When Disaster Strikes Y’All Street: A Study On Cross-Sector Collaboration In Protecting U.S. Financial Critical Infrastructure, Rachael A. Zerr, John Friedlander

Publications and Research

This exploratory research examines public-private collaboration between corporate security leaders and local emergency responders in the North Texas financial corridor known as “Y’all Street.” Using perception-based survey data from senior representatives in the private and public sectors, the paper evaluates partnership strength, preparedness activities, information sharing, and operational coordination. Findings indicate that collaborative practices such as facility tours, joint exercises, and emergency planning are present, but that partnership maturity remains uneven and is not yet fully standardized across the corridor. The research concludes that more formalized and institutionalized coordination will be necessary to strengthen resilience as the region’s financial significance …

Micromobility In Nyc: 2025, Mike Owen Benediktsson Phd, Xuemeng Li Phd

Publications and Research

This report offers a statistical snapshot of micromobility across the city over a three-week period in late 2025. Our team of trained researchers systematically observed over 1,700 micromobility vehicles at 155 separate intersections across the five boroughs of New York City. Our primary findings describe overall patterns in the demographics of micromobility and vehicle behavior at city intersections, and show how this behavior is shaped by variations in infrastructure as well as individual-level attributes.

The Black Mother-Daughter Developmental Model: A Life Course Framework For Understanding Matrescence, Identity, And Attachment In Black Family Systems, Brianna A. Baker

Publications and Research

This study introduces the Black Mother-Daughter Developmental Model (BMDDM), a life course framework that theorizes the evolving relational, psychological, and cultural dynamics of Black mother-daughter relationships across generations. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 Black women aged 18 to 65 and analyzed to examine patterns of attachment, identity development, rupture, and relational repair over time. Findings yielded a five-stage developmental model: (1) Black Matrescence and Prenatal Conditions, (2) Initial Attachment, (3) Separation and Detachment, (4) Negotiation and Reattachment, and (5) Matrescence Redux and Grandmatrescence. Across stages, participants described how gendered racial socialization, maternal …

Baking In The Disposition: The Wac/Wid World Through Translational Lenses, Joseph Franklin

Publications and Research

In a global perspective for WAC and other writing programs, the singular identifier of the nation still holds a dominance in articles, books, and conference presentations. But, how we understand relationships between different programs on the global writing studies map often demands a more nuanced unpacking than stable nation-markers can offer. Jonathan Hall (2023) calls us to take up “thinking with trans-” in WAC (p. 13). This chapter answers this call first by locating different pieces of global writing program scholarship along a spectrum from those that aim to establish a single, stable identity for a particular (often national) writing …

What Race Means For Health Among Black Americans: How Microaggressions Shape Self-Efficacy And Readiness For Behavior Change, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Objectives: Persistent racial disparities in cardiovascular health among Black Americans reflect not only structural inequities in the United States, but also the racialized meanings of cardiovascular disease reproduced through public and private health communication. Drawing on ecological systems theory, this research examines how beliefs linking race and cardiovascular disease are reinforced through routine clinical interactions and how these meanings shape health behavior change. Method: Across two experimental mixed-methods studies, a model integrating ecological, social–cognitive, and behavior-change frameworks was tested. In Study 1 (N = 374), health-message framing was experimentally manipulated to examine effects on self-efficacy and decisional balance while controlling …

What Race Means For Health Among Black Americans: How Microaggressions Shape Self-Efficacy And Readiness For Behavior Change, Amanda Lee Almond

Publications and Research

Objectives: Persistent racial disparities in cardiovascular health among Black Americans reflect not only structural inequities in the United States, but also the racialized meanings of cardiovascular disease reproduced through public and private health communication. Drawing on ecological systems theory, this research examines how beliefs linking race and cardiovascular disease are reinforced through routine clinical interactions and how these meanings shape health behavior change. Method: Across two experimental mixed-methods studies, a model integrating ecological, social–cognitive, and behavior change frameworks was tested. In Study 1 (N = 374), health-message framing was experimentally manipulated to examine effects on self-efficacy and decisional balance while …

Color-Blind Resilience: How Uniform Climate Standards Reproduce Environmental Inequality In The Rockaways, Aaryan M. Nair

Publications and Research

This paper examines how ostensibly uniform climate resilience standards can reproduce environmental inequality in socially uneven landscapes, using the Rockaway Peninsula in New York City as a critical case study. While flood-resistant building codes, zoning regulations, and insurance frameworks are designed to provide equal protection across flood-prone areas, this analysis argues that their “color-blind” application obscures and intensifies underlying disparities in financial capacity, housing conditions, and tenure. Drawing on environmental justice (EJ) theory, the paper identifies two key mechanisms through which inequality is reproduced. First, “code without capacity” demonstrates how uniform technical standards—such as elevation requirements under NYC Building Code …

Archives And Children's Knowledge, Elliott Kuecker, Ashley Rockenbach

Publications and Research

This article argues for the importance of collecting works created by children—not just about and not just for—in formal archival collections. Framed through the ideas of legitimate knowledge and epistemic injustice, this piece combines notions important to children’s rights activists and childhood studies scholars with the role archives can play in preserving children’s knowledge through child-created materials. The authors describe how researchers struggle to find work created by children within archives, impacting the ability to create child-centered research that centers children’s views of the world as prominently as adult views of the world. Some collections that do include child-created materials …

Resilience For Whom? A Study In Pathways And Production Of Unequal Risk In The Rockaways, Aaryan M. Nair

Publications and Research

This paper investigates how climate adaptation policies in the Rockaway Peninsula of New York City produce unequal outcomes despite their ostensibly neutral design, framing resilience as an environmental and climate justice problem. Situated within a landscape marked by stark socioeconomic disparities, aging housing stock, and high exposure to coastal flooding, the study demonstrates that existing adaptation strategies—centered on uniform technical standards, insurance frameworks, and large-scale coastal infrastructure—systematically advantage actors with greater financial and institutional capacity while leaving low-income residents, particularly renters, disproportionately vulnerable.

The analysis identifies three core dynamics underlying this “unequal-by-design” resilience regime: (1) the stratified feasibility of compliance …

Place: Dwelling Within The Built And Natural Environments, Christine Gratia

Publications and Research

This study argues that “place” is not simply physical, it is actualized by the relationship between human beings and the environments they inhabit. This research will spotlight various philosophical theories that pertain to where humans do human activities, the ever evolving containers of socialization and how the external environment informs self-concept. This research narrows in on Edward Relph’s phenomenology of “place” and Martin Heidegger's concept of dwelling. Both concepts are defined as foundational structures of human existence which create an interdependent relationship between humans and the places we inhabit. From that relationship stems a responsibility of caretaking. Through a conceptual …

A Protectorate Divided: The Otjimbingue Petition And Settler Contestations Of Railway Construction In German Southwest Africa, 1897–1902, Marta Millar

Publications and Research

Supporters of the State Railway in German Southwest Africa heralded its construction as ‘the dawn of a new era for the protectorate’ (Windhoeker Anzeiger, 27 October 1898). While railways did enable the expansion of colonial communities, not all settlers wrote as optimistically about this change as did the Anzeiger’s editor. Between 1897 and 1902, familial correspondence and debates in the protectorate’s first newspaper, the Windhoeker Anzeiger, reveal how various settlers negotiated the railroad’s transformative impact on colonial society and their everyday lives. Opposition voices argued that the railroad would harm the fragile colonial economy, serving only …

Validation And Trend Analysis Of Satellite-Derived Surface Water Temperature Observations Over Adirondack Lakes, Marzi Azarderakhsh, Carolien Mossel, Abdou Rachid Bah, Aisha Malik, Fahmeda Khanom, Jonathan Borrelli, Pete Mcintyre, Hamidreza Norouzi, Kevin Rose

Publications and Research

This study aims to validate and evaluate satellite remote sensing observations from the Landsat series over 135 lakes in the Adirondack State Park, located in upstate New York, and to examine their surface temperature trends over the past 40 years. It utilizes data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), along with Landsat 5 and 7. Park-scale results were derived by extracting MODIS surface temperatures within the park boundary, while lake-scale results were estimated using Landsat 5 (1984-2012) and Landsat 7 (1999-2023) observations. In addition, field observations were utilized to perform a comprehensive validation and evaluation of satellite-based surface temperature …

An Exploration Of Temporally Differentiated Associations Between Alcohol Outlets, Social Disorganization, And Assaults: A Multilevel Approach, Jinuk Jeong, Yunho Yeom

Publications and Research

A substantial body of research consistently shows that the concentration of alcohol outlets is positively associated with violent crimes, such as assaults. While recent studies have incorporated both spatial and temporal dimensions of this relationship, particularly within-day variations, how this temporally differentiated association of alcohol outlets with violent crimes varies depending on the broader context, such as social disorganization, remains underexplored. This study addresses this research gap by investigating whether the relationship between alcohol outlets and assaults in New York City from 2017 to 2019 differs by time of the day, while accounting for neighborhood structures in terms of their …

Compensation, Horizontal Diffusion, And Bottom-Up Pathways: State Climate Policies In The United States And Australia, Ian Bailey, Roger Karapin

Publications and Research

Recent years have seen growing interest in subnational governments as arenas of climate governance, but limited systematic research exists on the extent, conditions, or pathways through which subnational climate policies can influence, or compensate for deficits in, national policies. This article addresses this gap by examining options for states to influence climate policy in the United States and Australia, two countries where federal governments have made limited progress in developing national climate policies. As an analytical framework, it conceives a typology of state government approaches to climate policy that distinguishes among compensating, horizontal diffusion, and bottom-up pathways. It then uses …

The State Of The Unions 2025: A Profile Of Organized Labor In New York City, New York State, And The United States, Ruth Milkman, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

Organized labor has taken center stage in the 2020s, with workers leading successful organizing drives at Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and across a range of industries from health care to higher education. Public approval of unions has reached its highest level in decades, and a new generation of workers is stepping forward as leaders in the movement. The State of the Unions 2025 provides the most comprehensive profile of organized labor in New York City, New York State, and the United States, highlighting where unions are growing, who is leading the charge, and how labor is shaping the future of work …

Evidence-Based Shared Agendas For Scholarship On Teaching With Primary Sources: Reflections On A Bibliometric Analysis, Jen Hoyer, Anne Bahde

Publications and Research

This article explores how scholarship about teaching with primary sources (TPS) has evolved over time and what future directions past work might suggests. Using bibliometric analysis and visualization tools, we examined how TPS work has grown; what fields and disciplines focus on this work; key themes and issues; and what scholarship has been influential to the field. These insights led to reflections on disconnects across the field, considerations for publishing about TPS, and the potential of pedagogical standards and guidelines. Finally, this article concludes with recommendations on how this analysis points to possibilities for shared education, space, conversation, and products.

Queer Ga(Y)Ze And Desire In Flesh And Pink Narcissus, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

Through their portrayals of gay-for-pay hustlers, the films Flesh and Pink Narcissus, offer an expansive view of queerness and illuminate the queer history of Times Square.

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

Exposure To And Impact Of Unhealthy Food Marketing On Adolescents And Young Adults: A Narrative Review And Research Agenda, Nicholas Freudenberg, Rositsa Ilieva

Publications and Research

Consumption of unhealthy food has become a leading cause of premature deaths and preventable illnesses around the world. Research shows that marketing by the companies that produce, distribute, and sell unhealthy foods and beverages is associated with increased consumption of these products. To date, however, limited research has focused on the cumulative exposure and impact of various modes of marketing employed to reach distinct populations. In this narrative review, we summarize 25 years of scientific evidence and findings from 108 empirical studies and 19 systematic and scoping reviews of various forms of unhealthy food marketing to adolescents (aged 13 to …

Community-Level Analysis Of Anti-Asian Hate Crime, Jisoo Cho, Jinuk Jeong, Christopher Han-Fai Seto

Publications and Research

Motivated by the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study examines the community characteristics associated with the likelihood of their occurrence from 2020 to 2023 through interracial conflict and social disorganization perspectives. Analyzing data from the New York City Police Department and the American Community Survey across 2,198 census tracts, we find that communities with higher levels of Asian population, racial heterogeneity, and residential instability have higher odds of experiencing anti-Asian hate crime. However, concentrated disadvantage and defended neighborhoods (White, Black, and Hispanic) are not significant across all estimated models. These findings have important implications for …

Open Educational Resources For A More Just Romanticism, Leila Walker

Publications and Research

Efforts to diversify the field of Romanticism, long overdue, have intensified

recently, and many Romanticist organizations now sponsor programmes

aimed at amplifying Black and Brown voices. Most of these efforts have

focused on content: how to present Romanticism as a global movement

and include non-white authors in our anthologies and syllabi. While these

much-needed changes address some of the field’s traditional blind spots,

they do little to materially benefit our most vulnerable students or to

address the structural barriers that maintain Romanticism’s exclusionary

status quo. Open educational resources, or OERs, are one way to begin

productively transforming the way the …

Geochronology Of Senèze, Eric Delson, Sébastien Nomade, Sevket Sen, Evelyne Debard, Jean-François Pastre, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Qingfeng Shao, Christophe Falguères

Publications and Research

The age of the Senèze mammalian fauna has been discussed since it was first reported in 1892. 40Ar/39Ar ages reported by Nomade et al. (2014) and recalculated here to agree with current standards placed the deposits between 2.20 and 2.07 Ma. Paleomagnetic data collected in 2001 and 2004 help to narrow the age range, especially of the levels yielding fossils in 2001–2006. In the western sector, fossils can be securely dated between 2.10 and 2.08 Ma, while in the southeastern sector, they are slightly older, between 2.20 and 2.18 Ma. Senèze is one of the few later Cenozoic European sites …

Locational Data And The Public Interest, William A. Herbert, Micahel Goodchild, Richard Appelbaum, Jeremy Crampton, Gary Langham, Krzysztof Janowicz, Mei-Po Kwan, Katina Michael, Lisa Schamess

Publications and Research

This article presents a paper developed by the AAG Organizing Committee on Locational Information and the Public Interest through a summit held in Santa Barbara, California in June 2022. The summit resulted in goals and ideas for addressing the issues that arise from the present environment for geodata, whereby public, private, and third-sector entities can tap into publicly available locational information with relatively little regulation on its access or use. The Committee articulates four goals: (1) develop a research agenda extending across disciplines, (2) outline educational resources and strategies to guide ethical practice, (3) devise a pathway to increase public …