Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Notes From The Editor, Derek Stadler, Leila Walker

Urban Library Journal

We are very pleased to welcome you to the second issue of the 27^th volume of Urban Library Journal, which is a collection of proceedings from the LACUNY Institute held on Wednesday, May 5, and Thursday, May 6, 2021. The theme of the Institute was “Ending the Library Stereotype: Non-traditional Practices for the 21st-century.” The Institute highlighted the different roles that librarians play in our society as librarians wear different hats. Librarians are mentors, supervisors, activists, instructors, unofficial guidance counselors, gamers, artists, and so forth.

Uplifting Diverse And Marginalized Voices Through Community Archives And Public Programming, Annie E. Tummino, Jo-Ann Wong, Obden Mondésir

Urban Library Journal

Queens Memory is a local community archiving project co-administered by the Queens Public Library and Queens College Library. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Queens Memory embarked on a collaborative series of online programs that covered social justice, current events, and the creation of social change. This programming built upon ongoing community oral history and documentation efforts. This article explores how the public programs and oral history initiatives fueled one another, serving to uplift diverse voices within our communities and preserve those voices in the archives. Key ingredients of the programs are discussed, including technology, outreach, collaboration, consent, and format.

More Than Just Cataloging, In Three Acts: Reflections, Adrian Applin, Regina Carra, Sarah Nguyen

Urban Library Journal

This article contains proceedings from a performance-presentation at the 2021 LACUNY Institute called “More Than Just Cataloging, In Three Acts.” It features three performing artist-librarians, showcasing dance, music, and theatre while reflecting on connections between the performing arts and the information professions. Accompanying performance footage shared at the Institute is referenced in this article.

I Am Not A Badass: Against The Librarian-As-Superhero Stereotype, Rachel King

Urban Library Journal

This paper explores cultural tropes portraying librarians as heroes and superheroes. In this work, the writer has drawn on social reproduction feminist theory to explain the appearance of this emerging librarian stereotype, as well as to help readers better understand the role of academic librarians in today’s underfunded and pandemic-ravaged neoliberal university.

Librarians Don’T Use Google!: Breaking Stereotypes And Myths About Smart Searching, Nora B. Wood, Dhy Edwardsberry

Urban Library Journal

Students often assume that librarians sit with their noses stuck in dusty volumes all day. These same students are typically surprised to learn that many librarians actually work extensively with online resources and are adept at navigating websites and databases to uncover the best information. What comes as even more of a surprise? Learning that librarians rely heavily on Google to conduct thorough and credible research.

In this article, the authors will discuss how they helped break this librarian stereotype and turned the tables on preconceived notions of how to conduct smart research using Google for a group of undergraduate …

Turning Data Into Art, William Denton

Urban Library Journal

Data analysis and visualization can be fascinating, but such work doesn’t need to stop there. We can take the product of our professional data work and turn it into a personal practice of art. Two projects covered are a visualization of collections and a sonification of help desk activity. There are many ways that we can turn our professional practices of librarianship and archives into personal practices of art. In this talk I briefly point to a performance piece (about archival digitization) and a theatrical production (about information literacy) I did with others, then look in more detail at turning …

Notes From The Editor, Derek Stadler, Leila Walker

Urban Library Journal

We are pleased to welcome you to the first issue of the 27th volume of Urban Library Journal. Although this issue is not themed, the topics addressed by these articles invite us to imagine the innovations necessary to the future of our profession, effectively extending the conversation about urban librarianship during the pandemic that was the focus of our previous issue.

Shhh-Tereotypes: A Conversation Among Librarians With Hearing Loss, Jill Cirasella, Lee Ann Fullington, Monica Berger, William Gargan

Publications and Research

We are four hard of hearing librarians dependent on hearing aids. Our hearing loss complicates our work, often in ways that are not apparent to colleagues and patrons. In this article, based on our panel at the 2021 LACUNY Institute, we share our experiences, challenges, and self-accommodations, and offer suggestions for supporting and effectively communicating with hard of hearing colleagues.

Embracing The Non-Traditional: Incorporating Non-Traditional Elements Into Library Identity, Melissa Fraser-Arnott

Urban Library Journal

A shift in library and librarian identities occurs as libraries and library workers evolve and explore new practices. These changes prompt a discussion of what constitutes “traditional” and “non-traditional” practice in libraries. Identity and gatekeeper theories provide a lens through which the process of introducing and incorporating professional practices in libraries can be understood and offer insights into how ‘non-traditional’ ideas can be incorporated into the concepts of what constitute library collections and services for library workers and other stakeholders. Acceptance of non-traditional practice is aided by three factors. First, library organizational and professional identities must be sufficiently broad to …

Prison Librarianship And Lis Schools: Is There A Career-Path?, Patrick J. Raftery Jr

Urban Library Journal

Library Information Science research has inquired and advocated for prison librarianship since as far back as the 1930s. While most of the articles published focus on the problems facing these institutional libraries, (budgets, censorship, best practices, and standards), very few focus on the preparations LIS schools take to prepare and promote prison librarianship. For many years’ civilians, not professional librarians, operated prison libraries. Although the rise in professional librarians in prison libraries has grown, has the preparation and quality of professionally trained institutional/prison librarians changed? Previous research states LIS schools often overlook or ignore institutional/prison librarianship. This article explores past …

Participatory Budgeting: A Librarian’S Experience, John P. Delooper

Publications and Research

This article discusses one librarian’s experience with the Participatory Budgeting process in New York City. It includes information about how New York’s Participatory Budgeting process works, as well as Participatory Budgeting’s principles, and some discussion of how libraries have utilized PB. In addition, it includes discussion of how librarian skillsets can be especially useful for participatory budgeting.

Shhh-Tereotypes: A Conversation Among Librarians With Hearing Loss, Jill Cirasella, Lee Ann Fullington, Monica Berger, William Gargan

Urban Library Journal

We are four hard of hearing librarians dependent on hearing aids. Our hearing loss complicates our work, often in ways that are not apparent to colleagues and patrons. In this article, based on our panel at the 2021 LACUNY Institute, we share our experiences, challenges, and self-accommodations, and offer suggestions for supporting and effectively communicating with hard of hearing colleagues.

Communication During A Crisis: Keeping Our Patrons Informed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, John P. Delooper, Michelle Ehrenpreis

Urban Library Journal

This article discusses the Leonard Lief Library’s communications strategy to keep its patrons informed during the COVID-19 crisis. The Leonard Lief Library at Lehman College (CUNY) made use of its website, social media, and research guides to effectively convey timely information about service changes, library resources, and to improve outreach activities to our patron community while the library’s physical building was closed to its students, faculty, and staff.

If You Build It, Will They Come? Reflections On Creating A Community College Library Makerspace, Lawren Wilkins, John P. Delooper

Publications and Research

This article describes one community college library’s experience creating and implementing a makerspace. It discusses the setup process, lessons learned, criticisms from patrons and staff, and more.

Shifting Taxonomies In Home Care Nursing Information Behavior: Patients, Pandemic, Community, Richard P. Smiraglia, Edmund Pajarillo, Elizabeth Milonas, Sergey Zherebchevsky

Publications and Research

IKOS has continued to monitor the nursing information behavior (NIB) of home care nurses. In earlier reports we described how we developed an online taxonomy of NIB. We then took on a qualitative analysis of video representations of home care nursing in the pandemic. Merging the codes from two rounds of open coding yielded a set of categories (or axes) that could be used to construct a narrative analysis. Contextual quotations from the video transcripts further reveal the intensity of the potential taxonomic extension. The importance of this research for knowledge organization is the understanding we develop concerning shifting taxonomies …

Our Year Of Remote Reference: Covid19’S Impact On Reference Services And Librarians, Sarah B. Cohn, Rebecca Hyams

Publications and Research

After a full year of providing fully remote library reference due to the COVID-19 pandemic campus closures, this exploratory study looks at reference practices of libraries, and librarian response to those practices, at a large, urban, public university. This article focuses on the impact COVID-19 had on reference services themselves, as well as the perceptions of those who provide them.

The City As A Learning Lab: Using Historical Maps And Walking Seminars To Anchor Place-Based Research, Anne E. Leonard, Jason Montgomery

Publications and Research

Information literacy, inquiry, and empirical observation skills are essential to undergraduate students’ success, supporting the development of their independent critical thinking skills. In this chapter, we discuss an interdisciplinary course that we, an architecture professor and a librarian, co-taught at New York City College of Technology. The course, Learning Places: Understanding the City, combines place-based learning with primary source research, developing students’ abilities to observe an urban site chosen for study and to document their observations, and in the process build a line of inquiry for further research. The documented observations, newly created primary sources in their own right, initiated …

Notes From The Editor, Derek Stadler

Urban Library Journal

I am very pleased to welcome you to the second issue of the 26^th volume of Urban Library Journal. The second, or fall issue, of each volume is typically a collection of proceedings from the LACUNY Institute, held annually in spring. However, in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Institute was not held in 2020. Therefore, this issue will not contain proceedings. Instead, it is a special issue devoted to urban libraries and the pandemic. All articles underwent peer-review.

"Introduction" The Social Movement Archive, Nora Almeida, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

The Social Movement Archive examines the role of cultural production within social justice struggles and within archives. This book contains reproductions of political ephemera—zines, banners, stickers, posters, memes, and more—alongside 15 interviews with artists and activists who have worked across a broad range of movements including: women’s liberation, disability rights, housing justice, Black liberation, anti-war, Indigenous sovereignty, immigrant rights, and prisoner abolition, among others. These images and accompanying conversations illustrate the power of political art and ephemera to transform cultural practices, places, and communities; and its capacity to be a force for disruption in archival spaces.

Implementing Excellence In Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Library Workforce: Tips To Overcome Challenges, Kanu A. Nagra, Bernadette M. López-Fitzsimmons

Publications and Research

Diversifying the library workforce is challenging, with the graduation data of library and information science degrees not representing equity in demographics for diverse populations. Is this the reason for the lack of diversity among library staff or are recruitment practices not based on measurable performance standards? Both questions call upon the library and information science (LIS) profession to address diverse staffing issues to remedy these challenges.

Public Knowledge, Emily Drabinski

Publications and Research

An editorial framing the author's perspective on book reviews as a form of scholarly communication.

Deconstructing Service In Libraries: Intersections Of Identities And Expectations (Book Review), Nandi Prince

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Fostering Information Literacy: A Call For Collaboration Between Academic Librarians And Msw Instructors., Sarah C. Johnson, Margaret Bausman, Sarah Ward

Publications and Research

Genuine collaboration between academic librarians and social work faculty in which information literacy is embedded in social work education is lacking. Drawing from the results of the authors’ 2016 quantitative study surveying academic social work librarians across the United States, this qualitative follow-up uses data from 27 semi-structured interviews concerning the prevalence and nature of information literacy instruction (ILI) in social work education, how ILI is introduced and sustained in social work curricula, and the alignment between ILI efforts with institutional goals, guidelines from accreditation authorities, and professional social work practice standards. The literature review engages the reader in a …

Lacuny Interlibrary Loan Roundtable Meeting Minutes, June 2021, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Instructional Design With The Ice Approach In Academic Libraries: A Framework That Integrates Assessing, Learning, And Teaching, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

One-shot instruction in academic libraries is a librarian-controlled bibliographic instruction that responds to the point of information need for subject-related courses. The assessment of teaching effectiveness tends to take a summative approach, which provides an answer to what students learned but does not address how they learned. This column theoretically explores the framework of Ideas-Connections-Extensions (ICE) in library instruction and the classroom setting, which demonstrates learning outcomes and explores the learning journey, and integrates assessment, learning, and teaching through collaborative efforts by academic librarians and classroom faculty.

Digital Exhibition: Romaniote Memories, A Jewish Journey From Ioannina, Greece To Manhattan, Annie E. Tummino, Nicholas Alexiou

Publications and Research

This article discusses creation of the digital exhibition, Romaniote Memories, a Jewish Journey from Ioannina, Greece to Manhattan: Photographs by Vincent Giordano at Queens College, City University of New York.

Getting To Work: Information Literacy Instruction, Career Courses, And Digitally Proficient Students, Alexandra Hamlett

Publications and Research

This article discusses how following graduation, students often enter the job market unprepared to find, evaluate, and use information in the digital environment effectively. Essentially, there is a disparity between the skills students attain in college coursework, including information literacy (IL) skills, and those required in the workplace, which impacts graduates’ success as new members of the labour market. The article highlights how collaboration between a librarian and an instructor of a career centered course influenced instructional design for IL instruction in their courses. Librarians and instructors will benefit from practical examples from Guttman Community College’s innovative IL Program and …

Inclusivity In Children’S Services Within The School And Public Library, Phoebe Levin

Student Theses

The children's library has the potential to not only aid in knowledge-seeking conquests but to help establish a relationship of acceptance between the differences spewing from the child's own self, and the diversity of their peers. The increasing rate of underrepresented peoples in America, and the growing number of representative titles, have contributed to the trend of diversity and inclusivity in the library.

The efforts to make the library diverse and representative have been an ongoing struggle, yet in recent times efforts have proved that the exposure of diversity and inclusivity is beneficial to children. While examining how diversity and …

The Public Innovations Explorer: A Geo-Spatial & Linked-Data Visualization Platform For Publicly Funded Innovation Research In The United States, Seth Schimmel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Public Innovations Explorer (https://sethsch.github.io/innovations-explorer/app/index.html) is a web-based tool created using Node.js, D3.js and Leaflet.js that can be used for investigating awards made by Federal agencies and departments participating in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant-making programs between 2008 and 2018. By geocoding the publicly available grants data from SBIR.gov, the Public Innovations Explorer allows users to identify companies performing publicly-funded innovative research in each congressional district and obtain dynamic district-level summaries of funding activity by agency and year. Applying spatial clustering techniques on districts' employment levels across major economic sectors provides users …

Disruption, Transition, Adaptation: Archivists Working Under Covid-19, Annie E. Tummino, Tomasz Gubernat, Jeanie Pai, Victoria Fernandez, Kuba Pieczarski, Patricia Reguyal, Caitlin Colban-Waldron

Publications and Research

In this lightning round session, panelists discuss how a small but spirited archive is adapting to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Queens College Special Collections and Archives is largely staffed by current and recent graduates of the college's graduate program in Library and Information Studies, this is a special opportunity to hear from a diverse group of emerging professionals during a challenging and rapidly changing time in the field.