Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Thinking About Digital Archives: One Tool At A Time, Jeannine Keefer, Greta Bahnemann

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

This lesson plan introduces digital archives to an audience of students, faculty, and cultural heritage professionals through a locally-adaptable lesson kit that includes glossaries, links to sources, individual lessons, and a sample archive.

Ethnography In Student-Owned Spaces: Using Whiteboards To Explore Learning Communities And Student Success, Anna Sandelli, Sojourna J. Cunningham

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

“Student success” and the “user experience” are terms that have gained prominence in conversations around the ways in which academic libraries support and engage with their student populations. Ethnographic methods provide a unique opportunity to incorporate student voices into these conversations. This study reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted at two academic libraries in the United States. Through a semi-structured participatory approach using whiteboards, the researchers garnered more than 2,000 responses. By coding that qualitative data, the researchers were able to examine student usage of library spaces, how students create informal learning communities within these spaces, and how students …

Challenging The ‘Good Fit’ Narrative: Creating Inclusive Recruitment Practices In Academic Libraries, Sojourna J. Cunningham, Samantha Guss, Jennifer Stout

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Academic libraries operate under the assumption that there is one “right candidate” for a multi-layered position and that a search committee, a group of individuals formed with the purpose of assisting a responsible administrator in the recruiting and screening of candidates for a posted academic position, is the fairest and most equitable approach to hiring academic librarians. That assumption is running up against the fact that libraries and academic libraries in particular have an acknowledged a problem with recruiting and retaining librarians of color. According to the latest edition of the American Library Association Diversity Counts report, librarianship remains an …

Ur Scholarship Repository: 2018-2019 Year In Review, Lucretia Mcculley

UR Scholarship Reports and Statistics

Annual Report for the University of Richmond's institutional repository, UR Scholarship.

Small Brown Faces In Large White Spaces, Rosalinda Hernandez Linares, Sojourna J. Cunningham

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In this chapter we will explore how multiculturalism in the field of academic librarianship is mobilized and what the shape of that mobilization can tell us about issues of identity and the body. As former resident librarians of color, we the authors felt unmoored by the expectations put upon us as diversity resident librarians for a multitude of reasons. We had to learn quickly, but not ask too many questions or else we would seem unprofessional; we had to be ambitious, but not be intimidating to our coworkers. Above all, we had to be successful, which allowed little room for …

Ur Scholarship Repository: 2016-2017 Year In Review, Lucretia Mcculley

UR Scholarship Reports and Statistics

Annual Report for the University of Richmond's institutional repository, UR Scholarship.

Gender And Scholarly Publishing: What Students Need To Know, Lucretia Mcculley

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

As women and gender studies students emerge as citizens of the world, how can we educate them on scholarly communication issues? What role, if any, does gender play in successful scholarly publishing? How is open access publishing affecting global access to scholarship on gender? How do students’ lives on the Web influence their understanding of copyright?

Women and gender studies students need to understand the economics and legal aspects of scholarship, both as consumers and content creators. They need to be able to thoughtfully discuss who owns information, who controls it and who has access to it. Students also need …

Understanding Academic Patrons’ Data Needs Through Virtual Reference Transcripts: Preliminary Findings From New York University Libraries, Margaret Smith, Jill Conte, Samantha Guss

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

New York University (NYU) Libraries has an extremely high-volume chat reference service. This popularity presents a unique opportunity for gaining insight into library patrons’ conceptualizations of their data reference needs and how these needs are changing. Through analysis of three years’ worth of chat transcripts, we began to explore user needs and familiarity related to locating secondary data and statistics, performing data analysis, and using existing data services. Ultimately, we focused our analysis on requests for census data. This article discusses, in detail, the methods, preliminary results, limitations, and proposed next steps of our investigation. Our final goal is to …

Ur Scholarship Repository: 2015-2016 Year In Review, Lucretia Mcculley

UR Scholarship Reports and Statistics

Annual Report for the University of Richmond's institutional repository, UR Scholarship.

A Studio Model For Academic Data Services, Samantha Guss

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This book serves as proof that there are plenty of effective ways to provide data services in an academic environment and that there can never be a one-size-fits-all approach. It is still valuable, however, to look closely at other's service models--to learn from successes, to borrow concepts and metaphors from other realms, and to think about one's own services through new lenses. A service model is a framework used to describe and understand the "who, what, where, when, and how" of a service from different stakeholders' perspectives; it can serve as a useful tool for developing and improving data services …

Assessment Committees: Good Practices From Arl Libraries, Michelle H. Brannen, Sojourna J. Cunningham, Regina Mays

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Purpose – Assessment activities in academic libraries continue to grow as libraries explore assessment endeavors. Ranging from basic stats gathering and reporting to surveys, focus groups, and usability studies and beyond. Many practitioners are finding it necessary to create new processes and programs, with little guidance. The purpose of this paper is to paint a broad picture of assessment activities in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university libraries with the goal of creating a resource for libraries developing or improving their assessment programs.

Design/methodology/approach – A survey was developed that asked questions about assessment personnel, activities, mission, and website. A …

Experience Mandatory: Assessing The Impact Of Previous Career And Educational Experience On Lis Education And The Academic Library Job Hunt, Sojourna J. Cunningham, Ingrid J. Ruffin

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Since 2002, 97% of librarian jobs posted in American Libraries have required an American Library Association (ALA) accredited master’s degree (2004). The ALA Committee on Accreditation provides a general framework for library master’s program curriculum, “through a variety of educational experiences, for the study of theory, principles, practice, and values necessary for the provision of service in libraries and information agencies and in other contexts.” (Accreditation, 2014). ALA curriculum requirements are broad, however, so courses and requirements within ALA degree granting institutions vary immensely from program to program.

Ur Scholarship Repository: 2014-2015 Year In Review, Lucretia Mcculley

UR Scholarship Reports and Statistics

Annual Report for the University of Richmond's institutional repository, UR Scholarship.

Ur Scholarship Repository: 2013-2014 Year In Review, Lucretia Mcculley

UR Scholarship Reports and Statistics

Annual Report for the University of Richmond's institutional repository, UR Scholarship.

Building An Assessment Program In The Liberal Arts College Library, Lucretia Mcculley

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Now in its fourth year, the Library Assessment Committee at the University of Richmond has made great strides in establishing a sustainable assessment program within Boatwright Library. Prior to 2008, limited staff, time, expertise, and commitment were barriers to establishing an ongoing assessment program. As with many other liberal arts college libraries, most of our assessment efforts had focused on information literacy, since instruction is integral to the library and the university's mission. Library surveys and other assessment methods had only received close attention when the university was embarking on its re-accreditation process. With the growing emphasis on assessment within …

What Role Can Peer Benchmarking Play In Planning For The Future Of Research And Teaching Technologies?, Samantha Guss, Jenn Stringer, Lynn Rohrs

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Institutional leaders are asking libraries and IT units, as service providers, to provide data about service use, service quality and return on investment as they make decisions about resource allocation. In 2012, New York University developed a Peer Benchmarking Methodology for prioritizing research support needs by benchmarking themselves with more than a dozen peer institutions. The University of California at Berkeley borrowed and adapted NYU’s methodology as the starting point and used it to benchmark teaching and learning services along with research services for a planning and community building initiative across the campus. Here we present the methodology and discuss …

An Archive, Public Participation And A Performance: Five Perspectives, Laura Browder, Patricia Herrera

English Faculty Publications

This essay discusses our work on the digital archive, The Fight for Knowledge: Civil Rights and Education in Richmond, Virginia, which grew out of our five-year documentary theater project at the University of Richmond. We include the voices of six collaborators—students, a special collections librarian, a digital archivist, and faculty members—to closely examine the multiple archives that have grown out of this project, and the way this has led us to propose a new way of thinking both about archives and about our documentary theater methodologies. This collaborative process has helped us to reconceptualize the relationship between archive and …

From The President: A Heart-Felt Thank You, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her final From the President column, Ms. Janto reviews her terms and thanks those who assisted her.

From The President: Beginnings And Endings, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her "From the President" column, Ms. Janto discusses the upcoming AALL Annual Meeting.

From The President: In Anticipation Of Inspiration, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her From the President column, Ms. Janto highlights upcoming AALL events.

From The President: Professionalism & Community, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her "From the President" column, Ms. Janto highlights upcoming AALL events.

The Personal Librarian Program At The University Of Richmond: An Interview With Lucretia Mcculley, Lucretia Mcculley, Cy Dillon

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In the fall of 2010, two well-known liberal arts institutions, Drexel University in Philadelphia and Wesleyan University of Middletown, Connecticut, began programs that provided “personal librarians” for incoming freshmen. This apparently new idea received some notice in higher education news feeds, and was even featured in Library Journal’s Newsletter.

Academic librarians are always inquisitive, of course, and a national discussion about the history of such programs began quickly in a variety of listservs. Within a few days it was revealed that the concept was far from new, and that the first successful version was still flourishing at the University of …

The Nyu Survey Service: Promoting Value In Undergraduate Education, Samantha Guss, David M. Mcgarry, Jason B. Phillips

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

New York University's Data Service Studio has recently launched the NYU Survey Service, whose ultimate aim is to support the development and administration of surveys of all types. For the web-based component, we utilize a product called Qualtrics, which allows university affiliates to develop and administer web-based surveys. This article describes the process by which we at NYU came to offer the service during a time when concerns abound about the ability of libraries to support and expand services while still meeting service imperatives such as robust data services. While many considerations went into this evaluation and the ultimate conclusion …

Digital Curation Education In Practice: Catching Up With Two Former Fellows, Samantha Guss, Lisa Gregory

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

From 2008-2010, as part of the grant: ‘DigCCurr I: Preserving Access to Our Digital Future: Building an International Digital Curation Curriculum’ (DigCCurr I) funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a number of fellows at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) were comprehensively trained by library and archive professionals in digital curation theory and practice. This paper examines the curriculum skill areas matrix of the DigCCurr I program from the perspective of two former fellows, now employed in professional positions that utilize digital curation principles. Each …

From The President: Professionalism & Community, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her From the President column, Ms. Janto discusses community involvement: what it is and how it is a component of professionalism in librarianship.

From The President: Volunteering: A Two-Way Street, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

In her "From the President" column, Ms. Janto discusses the value of volunteerism for both the beneficiary and the volunteer.

Creating An Institutional Repository For State Government Digital Publications, Mei Kiu Lo, Leah M. Thomas

Law Faculty Publications

In 2008, the Library of Virginia (LVA) selected the digital asset management system DigiTool to host a centralized collection of digital state government publications. The Virginia state digital repository targets three primary user groups: state agencies, depository libraries and the general public. DigiTool’s ability to create depositor profiles for individual agencies to submit their publications, its integration with the Aleph ILS, and product support by ExLibris were primary factors in its selection. As a smaller institution, however, LVA lacked the internal resources to take full advantage of DigiTool’s full set of features. The process of cataloging a heterogenous collection of …

[Introduction To] Museum Careers: A Practical Guide For Students And Novices, N. Elizabeth Schlatter

Bookshelf

This concise volume is the place to start for anyone considering a career in museums. Museum professional and author N. Elizabeth Schlatter outlines the nature of the profession as a whole, the rewards and challenges of museum work, types of museums, and jobs within museums, including salary ranges. She discusses options for education and training, and suggestions on how to secure a job and how to move up the career ladder. Interviews with museum professionals from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds demonstrate different career paths and offer unique and helpful advice . For novices in the field, students in …

Taking The Best Of Both Worlds: Success And Challenges With The Hybrid Model Of Library Instruction, Lucretia Mcculley

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The University of Richmond (UR) is an independent, privately endowed institution, with a total student body of around 5,000 students. Undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in the liberal arts, business, law, and leadership studies. Library instruction has been an integral part of the university libraries program since the 1970s, initiated by a five-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities College Library Program and the Council on Library Resources. During the past thirty years, the program has continued to grow and reinvent itself. Overall, the instructional services program can be described as a "hybrid library instruction model," emphasizing …

Managing Digital Resources, Or, How Do You Hold Electrons In Your Hand?, Anna L. Creech

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

In the 1995 publication New Automation Technology for Acquisitions and Collection Development, Nancy Markle Stanley wrote a chapter entitled "Purchasing Electronic Resources: an Acquisitions Perspective"¹ in which she outlines the challenges of managing electronic resources. I had to chuckle a bit when l read the book, because at the time of its publication, my undergraduate library was in the process of finally automating their catalog. The evolution of electronic resources in libraries has all of the characteristics of technological innovation. There are libraries with the funding and vision to be early adopters, and there are libraries on the tail …