Library and Information Science Commons^™

Student Perspectives On Grading In Higher Education Stem Courses, Christopher Sean Burns, Daniela D.S. Digiacomo, Jennifer Pusateri, Katherine Ritchie, Christine Wusylko

Information Science Faculty Publications

Purpose

Despite a growing awareness of instructional practices that support student learning and well-being, higher education classrooms tend to still be dominated by the use of rigid approaches to assessment and course design. This study aims to understand the experiences of students in courses that implement a universal design for learning (UDL) pedagogical approach and an ungrading assessment approach. Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging a qualitative methodological approach, authors interviewed 13 graduate students in two library and information science technology courses and 11 undergraduate students in a computer science course in discrete mathematics about their experiences with ungrading within the context of UDL-designed …

The Digital In The Library: Finding The Mutually Beneficial Synergy, James M. Donovan

Law Faculty Books and Chapters

With the value of access to digital resources abundantly demonstrated during the COVID-19 lockdown, enthusiasm for the format is reaching new heights. This chapter counsels restraint, rebutting the argument that skepticism concerning the wide adoption of digital materials into the library is due merely to nostalgia by anti-technologists for a now-bygone age. Despite their obvious usefulness in certain situations, patrons have not responded well when libraries propose to discard legacy print collections in favor of transient electronic formats.To explain this rejection, this chapter argues that libraries are built upon principles of collection development and organization of materials in order to …

Balancing Face-To-Face And Digital Communication: The Role Of Relationship Maintenance In Dual-Earning Families, Tamara D. Afifi, America L. Edwards

Information Science Faculty Publications

This study examines how face-to-face (FtF) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) contribute to relationship maintenance and resilience in dual-earning families, a largely overlooked area in family communication research. Guided by the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL), we test how ongoing FtF and CMC maintenance behaviors predicted well-being across a week among 62 families (i.e., two parents and one adolescent). Using a week-long daily diary and physiological measures (cortisol and IL-6 assays), we assess perceived stress, mental health, and loneliness. Findings suggest that both FtF and CMC maintenance are associated with lower stress and better well-being, with FtF showing somewhat …

Enabling Communication Resiliency In The Connected Car Environment, Antonio Guerrero-Ibáñez, Juan Contreras-Castillo, Sherali Zeadally, Een-Kee Hong

Information Science Faculty Publications

Connectivity has become integral to various application domains, with the automotive sector as a prime example. Advances in electronics, computing, and telecommunications have driven the evolution of the connected car ecosystem, transforming it into a data-rich environment that enhances road safety, efficiency, and overall mobility. However, the success of this ecosystem depends on seamless, reliable, and resilient communications. We identify key challenges that may affect communications in the connected car environment and discuss solutions that enhance resiliency and robustness. Finally, we propose a multi-layered network architecture that will enhance communication resilience in the connected car ecosystem.

Open Education As A Tool For Trans And Gender Diverse Inclusion, Stephen Krueger

Library Presentations

There has been little attention given to gender diversity in the open education world so far. But OER and open pedagogy have the potential to be extraordinary tools for supporting trans and gender diverse students: removing cost barriers for a population with extremely high poverty rates, adapting resources to include current and localized information about healthcare and law, and highlighting trans and gender diverse voices. This session will offer an overview of the relationship between open education and gender inclusion. It will also touch on ways in which widespread practices in open education do not serve trans and gender diverse …

Crawling Is More Fun With Friends: Active University Web Archiving Through Cross-Campus Collaboration, Ruth E. Bryan, Andrew Mcdonnell

Library Presentations

Between 2023-2024, staff of the University Archives at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center (Lexington, Kentucky, United States) reviewed the sustainability of our web archiving program. Preserving our institution’s vast web presence is technologically demanding, requires ongoing specialized expertise, and is underfunded. It is also absolutely necessary: If university archives do not determine how to sustainably acquire, preserve, and provide access to online documents, we will suffer (and already have experienced) significant gaps in our understanding of the university’s actions, events, and decisions. We used Kristin R. Eschenfelder, et al.’s “nine dimensional framework for digital cultural heritage …

“Literally Made Me Cry”: The Results Of The Student Course Materials Cost Survey, Stephen Krueger, Brandon Bradley

Library Presentations

In 2024, over 300 UK students took a survey on how the cost of textbooks and other course materials impacted their academic experiences. The presenters will share highlights from the results and resources for finding solutions.

“Literally Made Me Cry”: The Impact Of Course Material Costs On University Of Kentucky Students, Stephen Krueger

Library Reports and White Papers

The Student Course Materials Cost Survey was administered September 16 – October 6, 2024. It was open to current students at the University of Kentucky (UK). The goals were to help UK Libraries better understand how the cost of course materials affects students at UK and to provide a snapshot of student spending across the university. The questions were based on similar research done at other institutions in Virginia (Virginia Course Materials Survey, 2021) and Florida (2022 Student Textbook and Instructional Materials Survey, 2022). Other work based on those surveys includes the 2023 Illinois Course Materials Survey (CARLI, 2023) and …

Data For Services For Children Of All Abilities In Libraries (Scale) Project, Maria Cahill, Denice Adkins, Bobbie Sartin Long, Derek Thomas Myles Daskalakes, Caroline Gooden, Melissa Stormont, Alicia K. Long, Carol Russell

Information Science Faculty Data

The University of Kentucky, in collaboration with the University of Missouri and Emporia State University, and in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, the State Library of Kansas, the State Library of Missouri, the Kansas State Department of Education, the Kentucky Department of Education, and the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, engaged in a four-year exploratory stage, multi-state, Research in Service to Practice project investigating the effectiveness of library services, practices, and behaviors effective for serving children with disabilities and/or developmental delays who span ages birth to 5-years. Aligned with the IMLS agency-level Promote Lifelong Learning …

Sisyphus And The Digital Library: Keep Rolling That Boulder Up The Hill (Careful, It's Heavy), Ruth E. Bryan, Sarah Dorpinghaus, Megan M. Mummey

Library Presentations

Oftentimes, archivists and programmers feel like Sisyphus of Greek myth, continually rolling our boulder, the digital library, up the hill of stakeholder expectations. Since 1998, the University of Kentucky Libraries has provided online access to digital and digitized archival content through ExploreUK.uky.edu and other sites. Like many other institutions, UK Libraries has faced technological, organizational, and communication challenges in this endeavor. This presentation explores how UK Libraries responded to these challenges by expanding the decision-making team, after years of unclear responsibility and ownership, to reinvigorate internal interest and investment in the local digital library system and workflows.

You Are Here: Defining Our Hidden Born-Digital Backlog, Andrew Mcdonnell

Library Presentations

The digital archivist position was created at the University of Kentucky two years ago to help create and refine workflows and process born-digital collections in our manuscripts and university archives collections. While much of the initial work of these last two years was on newly acquired collections and materials, in the decades prior, a variety of born-digital materials on physical media had been gathered in hybrid collections and stored and described in myriad ways. This presentation will demonstrate my processes for discovering and assessing unmigrated born-digital materials on physical media hidden throughout our collection. The process is built on documentation …

How To Gender Include, Stephen Krueger

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Gender inclusion is not an optional part of library work—at least, it isn’t if we want all those “Libraries Are For Everyone” signs to be true. And yet, the reality is that many libraries fail the most basic aspects of gender inclusion for patrons, employees, or both. Even in libraries where Trans 101 trainings do occur and are well received, or where the baseline of knowledge among employees is relatively high, the question remains: What now?

This article intends to answer that question. Very broadly speaking, gender inclusion work in libraries means sustained action to ensure that some patrons and …

Beyond The Legislature’S Website: Strategies And Tools For State Legislative Research That Informs Advocacy Work, Jennifer Horne

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

As the nation’s state legislatures increasingly decide the issues that affect citizens most directly, the ability to identify, track, and understand state legislation is key to successful advocacy efforts. While all state legislative websites provide the status and authoritative text of the bill, this may be insufficient to understand what the bill seeks to do and why the change is being proposed. To find plain English summaries and necessary context and background information on proposed bills, advocates may also need to find appropriate news sources and identify key stakeholders—those who care the most about the bill or are the most …

Successfully “Reframing” Assessment Work Due To Macro And Micro Pressures, Julene L. Jones, Mary K. Thompson, Beth Janetski, Sarah Wu

Library Presentations

The Grand Challenges Project supports global collaborations informing equitable and evidence-informed practices for higher education assessment practitioners. The Grand Challenge’s Equity Action Makers Team conducted twenty interviews in 2023/2024 with assessment professionals across higher education. Several participants explained that they have adjusted their approach to equity work to successfully complete their projects or achieve their goals. They did this in response to various macro and micro influences, such as recognizing their own positionality, meeting grant funding requirements, dealing with institutional financial or cultural pressures, navigating political pressures outside their influence, or fostering supportive networks of practitioners.

Open Access And Citation Impact: Modality, Funding, Publisher, And Disciplinary Trends At The University Of Kentucky, Ben Rawlins, Mitchell Scott

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

As publishers and libraries attempt to align business models and collection strategies to an ever-increasing open access (OA) publishing landscape, both have found that the message of open access citation advantage (OACA) resonates with current and prospective authors. Despite its widespread promotion and acceptance, however, OACA is not universal and is subject to ongoing debate. This quantitative study contributes to the OACA debate and research with a longitudinal focus on citation data from journal articles published 2018-2021 by University of Kentucky affiliated authors. The article and citation data for University of Kentucky affiliated authors are supplemented with University of Kentucky …

Three Lesser-Known African American Poets, Authors, And A Publisher In Kentucky, Reinette F. Jones

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

This article highlights the work of some lesser known historical poets who were African American, including Frances Carter DeBerry, Lawrence Harris, Sr., and Phil H. Brown.

The Tiny Library And The Mini Library, Reinette F. Jones

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Ask a librarian to describe a tiny library and a general answer will be a facility that is smaller than a small library. A more contem-porary description is a little library in a small wooden box that is attached to a stand and placed in a neighborhood to support reading and free book exchange. Both are good answers and added to these definitions is the centuries-old backstory when the tiny library was whatever an individual meant for it to be.

Framing Large Language Models: Teaching Foundational Concepts Of Generative Ai And Information Literacy For Critical Student Engagement, Isaac Wink, Jennifer Hootman

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

This chapter situates the emerging scholarly conversation around AI literacy within the established Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. We apply three frames in particular: 1) Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, 2) Information Creation as a Process, and 3) Research as Inquiry, considering competencies relevant to students encountering generative AI applications in educational contexts and addressing ways that both students and instructors may seek to engage productively with such tools.

This chapter primarily focuses on tools such as ChatGPT that are built atop large language models (LLMs)—systems trained on massive text corpora—rather …

Storage Media Prioritisation With Technical And Archival Appraisal, Andrew Mcdonnell, Megan M. Mummey

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

This spreadsheet tool is designed to provide archives and libraries a means of prioritizing the order in which data is migrated from physical media carriers and other sources in their collection in need of preservation. It is an adaptation of work from the Archives and Special Collections at the University of Glasgow, who developed a methodology for prioritizing archival processing of digital collections stored in physical storage media.

The original tool (downloadable here: https://researchdata.gla.ac.uk/1634/ ) permits users to calculate a priority score by weighting the following factors: the DPC BitList Endangered Digital Media score, the age of the media, its …

Working Together, Making It Better, Reinette F. Jones, Kopana Terry, Taylor Leigh

Library Presentations

Communication and collaboration, answering questions, and accomplishing goals related to the history of Spanish-speaking people in Kentucky.

Just What Is Equity And What Is It Doing In A Nice Field Like Assessment, Julene Jones, Glenn Phillips, Ciji Heiser

Library Presentations

This presentation outlines a literature review on equity and assessment, drawing from the article Making a Grand Contribution: Professional Development Resources for Leveraging Assessment Data to Advance Equity. The review will explore how assessment practices can promote equity, identifying professional development strategies that support equitable data use in higher education. The findings will inform institutional leaders, faculty, and assessment professionals on embedding equity within assessment processes. This session will engage participants in discussions about the history of equity in assessment and its current uses, equipping them with tools to advance equitable assessment practices and institutional change.

From Data To Action: Leading Assessment In Polarizing Times, Julene L. Jones, Ciji Heiser, Renée Delgado-Riley, Heather Strine-Patterson, Kevin Wright

Library Presentations

In an era of increasing political and social polarization, assessment professionals lead within complex landscapes to ensure data is used to drive meaningful change. This session features a panel of professionals exploring how to move from data collection to organizational change while leading assessment efforts with integrity and impact. Participants will answer a series of questions focused on current and evolving challenges, examples of their practice, and strategies they use to center student and organizational success in the assessment journey.

The Information Practices Of Undergraduates Encountering Material Objects As Information Resources In Classroom Learning Tasks, Christopher A. Miller

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Undergraduate students sometimes encounter material objects as information resources in small-group classroom learning activities. Examples include art, artifacts, specimens, and anatomical models. This dissertation sought to identify common features of the students’ information practices in such situations, regardless of the activity’s discipline or content, and to explore how making material information central shapes students’ information practices. The conceptual framework combined theorizations of materiality and information practices. Methods involved video recording students doing a variety of simulated classroom activities with objects, video elicitation, qualitative content analysis, and praxiographic interpretation. The praxiographic interpretive descriptions illustrated how all aspects of the site–material, bodily, …

The Use Of Peer-To-Peer Observation And Feedback Cycles To Address Factors Impacting Perceived Professional Self-Efficacy Of School Librarians In A Kentucky School District: A Mixed Methods Action Research Study, Kelli D. Reno

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Research has shown that the school librarian occupies a unique and singular role in school settings. As such, their belief in their ability to master professional competencies is often self-referential and subject to negative influence from external organizational forces. This Mixed-Methods Action Research study explored the effect targeted institutional support for professional practice, via Peer-to-Peer Observation and Feedback cycles, has on perceptions of professional self-efficacy among the school librarians in one district.

A literature review focused on self-efficacy theory and school library research relating to role perception, organizational positioning, professional competencies, and job satisfaction anchored the diagnosis phase of this …

Using Llms To Model Arguments In U.S. Supreme Court Briefs: Preliminary Report, Heng Zheng, Dexter Williams, Bertram Ludäscher

Information Science Faculty Publications

Supreme Court briefs can impact the decision-making of Supreme Court cases. We show how to represent the briefs for a U.S. Supreme Court case as a formal argument model that relies on the briefs’ existing structure. We explore how to generate argument models with large language models (LLMs) by using them to identify attacks between arguments.

Preserving Student Life: Uk Libraries' Experience With "Wildcat Histories", Ruth E. Bryan, Taylor C. Leigh

Library Presentations

The University of Kentucky University Libraries University Archivist and the Modern and Classical Languages Librarian share their experiences, successes, and challenges with preserving student life and partnering with the University of Kentucky Latino Student Union through their six-year "Wildcat Histories" project. Topics include website and social media preservation and description, managing a small grant from Project STAND, and outreach to student organizations. Speaker notes are available upon request.

Looking Back: The Colored Reading Rooms In Kentucky Before 1900: Let Me Free!, Reinette F. Jones

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

From Research Findings To Decision Tools: Supporting Local Choices, Margo Gustina

Library Research Seminar 8: Telling Library Stories

No abstract provided.

The Danger Of Retelling Family Stories: The Story Of The "Conjure" Chest, Deana Thomas

Library Research Seminar 8: Telling Library Stories

No abstract provided.

Public Librarians' Roles In Natural Disasters: Stories Of Leadership And Resilience, Denise Lyons, April Hobbs, Feili Tu-Keefner, Denise Gomez, Marcia A. Mardis

Library Research Seminar 8: Telling Library Stories

No abstract provided.