Library and Information Science Commons^™

Charting Queer Visibility: A Content Analysis Of Queer Picture Books, 2000-2024, Amanda Melilli, James W. Rosenzweig, Alicia G. Vaandering

Library Faculty Research

This poster session presents findings from a content analysis of queer picture books published from 2000 to 2024. In an initial review of more than 650 books, the authors analyzed narrative themes and the identities, orientations, and BIPOC and/or disability intersectionality of queer characters in each book. This research built a final book sample of more than 430 unique titles with identifiably queer characters. The findings map queer representation and narratives in picture books published in the U.S. and Canada during the twenty-first century.

Prototyping For Game Design With Unlv Libraries, Silvey Benson, Amber Sewell

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Involving students in a hands-on creative way to implement ideation, design, and prototyping skills gives students the opportunity to apply the theory of iterative design. Students analyze and reverse engineer current game designs prior to beginning their own innovations. They are then encouraged to apply innovation and creativity to their own game designs, test the games’ effectiveness through having others play their game and provide feedback, and fail safely in a controlled environment. Students will ideally increase their tolerance for failure through the implementation of the iterative design process while gaining a variety of skills that will serve them outside …

From One-Shots To Gems: Building Scaffolded Microcredentials In Information Literacy, Layla Barati, Kevin Sebastian

Library Faculty Research

Discover how UNLV Libraries redesigned first-year information literacy instruction into the GEM Knowledge Series—scaffolded microcourses awarding stackable badges. Learn how this model moves beyond traditional one-off library lessons, embeds assessment, and empowers students to Gather, Evaluate, and Make knowledge across academic, professional, and civic contexts.

Paywall Payout: A Three Year Review Of The Soml Open Article Fund, Aidy Weeks

Library Faculty Research

In 2022, the School of Medicine Library launched the Open Article Fund as a way to support faculty, residents, and fellows with their scholarly activities when submitting open access publications that would otherwise be ineligible for funding through the University Libraries fund which limited recipients to tenure-track faculty. After feedback from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine Office of Research, The pilot fund was structured after the University Libraries funds with some modifications including awarding $2,000 instead of $1500 towards a publication, allowing for publications in hybrid journals, and requiring multi-author team submissions. The fund was initially supported by $30,000 …

The Evolving Roles Of U.S. Academic Librarians: A Snapshot Of Job Responsibilities In 2023, Russell Michalak, Laura Rose Taylor, Michelle Reed, Amanda Koziura, Devon Ellixson

Library Faculty Research

This study examines the evolving roles of academic librarians across North America. Adapting a survey tool published in a prior Canadian study, it surveys over 350 librarians in the United States, analyzing shifts in Research Support, Teaching and Learning, Digital Scholarship, User Experience, and Scholarly Communication. Results indicate significant engagement in information discovery and digital scholarship with a growing need for training in digital tools and data management. The resulting report highlights the crucial role of academic librarians in adapting to technological and educational changes, underscoring the necessity for ongoing professional development.

Adapting Publishing Principles And Best Practices For Repository-Hosted Journals: Sustainable Ideas For Enhancing Local Open Access Publishing, Andrea A. Wirth

Library Faculty Research

This poster addresses the question: How can librarians and administrators working with repository-hosted journal editors incorporate best practices into hosted journals without taking on the role of publisher and without overextending themselves?

The "Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing" (COPE, DOAJ, OASPA, WAME, 2022) provides foundational guidance for journal publishing. The guidelines cover a robust suite of topics such as authorship, peer review, funding sources, author cost transparency, and licensing and copyright. Publishers with staff who support a suite of journals (whether 10 or 1000) may be able to evaluate and adopt such guidance relatively quickly and …

Mfgat: Map-Free Trajectory Prediction With Graph Attention Networks For Autonomous Vehicles, Zehra Gunindi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Accurate trajectory prediction is a key component for ensuring safe and efficient navigation of autonomous vehicles in complex traffic scenarios. While traditional methods rely heavily on high-definition (HD) maps, these approaches face significant challenges, including high costs, limited availability, and susceptibility to rapid obsolescence. This thesis proposes an end-to-end, map-free trajectory prediction model that leverages Graph Attention Networks (GAT) to dynamically capture spatial-temporal interactions among road agents, eliminating the need for HD maps.The research introduces UNLVTraj, a novel LiDAR-based dataset collected around the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus, specifically along Cottage Grove Street, Harmon Avenue, and Maryland Parkway. This …

I Have To Pay To Keep My Job: Examining Financial Barriers To Promotion And/Or Tenure, Amanda Koziura, Faith Bradham, Maura Seale

Library Faculty Research

Drawing from data collected in 2020 and 2023 through national surveys, this paper will illuminate financial barriers faced by academic librarians in tenure-track or professional positions with a promotion requirement related to service, scholarship, or other professional engagement.

Reframing Information Seeking In The Age Of Generative Ai: A Critical And Humanistic Approach, Joseph Kevin Sebastian

Library Faculty Research

Information-seeking has long been the subject of theoretical modeling, often drawing from cognitive, behavioral, computational, and even evolutionary perspectives to explain how individuals navigate, filter, and utilize information. Several dominant frameworks—Carol Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process, Marcia Bates’ Berrypicking Model, Peter Pirolli & Stuart Card’s Information Foraging Theory, Kiyohiko Nakamura’s Information Criteria framework, and Ian Ruthven’s Information Shaping Theory —have provided structured ways of understanding how people interact with information environments. However, while these frameworks offer valuable insights, they often operate within mechanistic or efficiency-driven paradigms, which risk overlooking the complex, embodied, and socioculturally situated nature of human information behaviors. These …

Reading The Rainbow: Exploring Themes And Identities In Lgbtqia+ Picture Books, Amanda Melilli, Alicia G. Vaandering, James W. Rosenzweig

Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation shares an analysis of over 275 picture books featuring LGBTQIA+ identities, providing evidence that the depiction of queerness in children’s literature is complex and varied. Tools for defining narrative themes and LGBTQIA+ identities will be shared as well as data on queer characters with intersecting identities. By exploring the nuances of LGBTQIA+ representation in picture books, attendees will gain a better understanding of novel research inquiries into representation.

Improved Open Access Support Through A Popular Open Access Fund, Andrea A. Wirth

Library Faculty Research

This paper describes results of a 2023 survey of authors who applied to University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Open Article Fund, a fund that supports article processing charges (APCs). The survey sought feedback about the fund’s impact, value, and award criteria as well as opinions on other open access topics. Results show that the fund has had a positive impact on open access uptake and opinions of open access. Respondents reported that they participate in other open publishing activities and believe that most publications should be made open access. The results suggest opportunities for better strategic connections between the …

Relational Database Schema To Support Research Profiling Studies, Natural Language Processing, And Bibliometric Analysis, Darnelle Melvin

Library Faculty Research

In this paper, a relational database schema is introduced that supports rapid prototyping, data preprocessing, and warehousing tasks associated with research profiling studies, natural language processing, and bibliometric analysis. Python scripts are leveraged for the seamless retrieval and processing of data from Semantic Scholar. This schema is tailored to efficiently analyze entities such as authors, their scientific papers, referenced papers, and cited papers. Adhering to the relational model, this schema offers a standardized approach to data storage and detailed information retrieval for scientific papers. Enhancing knowledge discovery in scientific databases, this schema provides researchers with a powerful platform for robust …

Introduction, Amanda Koziura, Amy Tureen

Library Faculty Research

Introduction to the book Making Values-Based Decisions in the Academic Library.

Don’T Do More With Less: Sustainable Work As A Management Value, Amanda Koziura

Library Faculty Research

Discusses a series of decisions a middle manager made to keep the work of her department sustainable and how she incorporated her values into her process.

Power, Labor, And Hierarchies: Deconstructing Work In Speculative Fiction, Joseph Kevin Sebastian

Library Faculty Research

In discussions of literary and speculative fiction, a persistent divide emerges regarding the modes and aims of each genre. Literary fiction generally aims to reflect the human condition in familiar, “realistic” terms, exploring characters, relationships, and narratives within existing social structures. In contrast, speculative fiction is characterized by what Darko Suvin identifies as the “the strange newness” of the novum: a radically new element or phenomenon that reshapes the fictional world. This paper argues that the novum in science fiction provides a unique framework for interrogating the relationships between labor, knowledge, and power, revealing how these constructs are contingent upon …

Student Perspectives On Increasing Visibility Of Las Vegas African American History, Ericka Marielle Garces, Nicole Garcia-Contreras, Alfredo Lim

Communication Studies Student Research

Photographer Clinton Wright documented the everyday lives and experiences of the African American community in Las Vegas' Historic Westside from 1964 to 1971. He later donated his collection of photographic negatives to the Special Collections and Archives at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. Although the collection is open to the public, physical access is limited to the Special Collections Reading Room, which may restrict usability for some researchers and community members. This project highlights the importance of digitization and metadata workflows in improving access to and visibility of archival materials.

In this poster, the authors present their work …

Disrupting Vocational Awe: Strategies For Supervisors To Identify, Counter, And Prevent Unsustainable Workloads And Unreasonable Expectations, Amanda Koziura, Amy Tureen

Library Faculty Research

This chapter provides practical recommendations for supervisors on combating the impacts of vocational awe and its resulting unsustainable workloads and unreasonable workplace expectations. We focus on supervisors because they are generally more empowered to make structural changes to employee responsibilities and job descriptions than are employees themselves. Tis formal authority to adjust work- loads in response to changing external factors renders supervisors key players in reducing organizationally embedded vocational awe and the results thereof.

Developing Recommendations For More Inclusive Academic Librarian On-Site Interviews, Christina M. Miskey, Kathryn M. Houk, Jason Aubin

Library Faculty Research

This chapter will discuss the work of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), library faculty Ad Hoc Committee for Diverse Recruitment and Retention: Campus Visits and Interviews (hereafter referred to as the campus visits committee), which was formed by the library faculty in 2020 to recommend ways for the faculty interview process to be more inclusive and to allow candidates from diverse backgrounds to excel during their interview process. The culmination of the committee’s work was the internal report for library faculty, Recommendations for Hosting UNLV Library Faculty Candidates, which is in the process of being implemented for …

Crafting A Queer Information Literacy (Qil) Framework: An Exploration Of Embodiment, Digital Learning, And Information Literacy In Academic Spaces, Joseph Kevin Sebastian

Library Faculty Presentations

This presentation introduces and explores Queer Information Literacy (QIL) as a critical, embodied, and transformative framework within academic and digital learning contexts. Bridging theoretical explorations with practical applications, the project delves into the intersections of queerness, embodiment, and information literacy, challenging and subverting normative structures embedded within traditional literacy models and digital learning environments. Personal narratives from the researcher’s experiences as an academic librarian and digital learning specialist enrich the discussion, offering tangible insights and strategies for enacting QIL. The presentation ultimately advocates for a QIL that is collaborative, adaptive, and reflective, honoring the fluidity and multiplicity of queer experiences …

Beyond The Library: The Role Of Academic Libraries’ Chat Reference In Answering Campus Questions, Erin Owens, Vanessa Acre, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Robin Fowler, Silvia Sheffield

Library Faculty Research

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic drove most users online, chat was establishing itself as a core service for asking library-related questions of many types, from basic directional and reference to research queries of a more sophisticated nature. This investigation seeks to provide insight into how academic libraries are seen not only as a source of library assistance, but also as a means of filling an information gap on a wider subject: the university campus at large. The study’s methods involved analyzing chat transcripts from five large four-year public universities during a two-year period (2019- 2021), noting the frequency of campus-related …

Maintenance As A Core Value Recommendations For Increasing Gender Equity On Digital Scholarship Teams, Amanda Koziura, Stephanie Becker

Library Faculty Research

As two female librarians who have worked in digital scholarship at research institutions, we have observed how patriarchal gender norms can influence the way teams operate and the toxic impact they have on librarians. In this chapter, we will identify points of impact and suggest a feminist approach, which relies on maintenance and care, to further equity in the subfield of digital scholarship within academic libraries.

Dwindling Trust In Experts: A Starting Point For Information Literacy, Mark N. Lenker Iii

Library Faculty Presentations

Librarians and teachers encourage students to include expert perspectives in their research, but recent public discourse includes high-profile examples of experts being inconsistent or wrong, and recent studies suggest that public trust in experts is declining. Waning trust makes it difficult to teach information literacy: I can push students to find high-quality research sources, but what if these sources turn out to be yet another example of experts getting it wrong? After a period of living with this worry, I found a way to move forward by centering class discussion on the public’s dwindling trust in experts. Part of this …

Fostering Udl-Informed Library Instruction Practices Developed From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Niki Fullmer, Katie Strand

Library Faculty Research

Purpose: This case study explores how universal design for learning (UDL)-informed online instruction modules developed during COVID-19 can better support student information literacy outcomes. This study will also examine how hybrid learning lends itself to UDL and may resolve some of the issues within library instruction.

Design/methodology/approach: This case study explores how a team of librarians at Utah State University developed three UDL-informed modules to support library instruction and hybrid learning during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey was sent to composition instructors to understand how they utilized the three new UDL-informed modules and if the modules helped …

Library Of Congress Classification Monthly Approved Changes Lists: Implementing An Ongoing Reclassification Workflow At Unlv, Katherine Manifold

Library Faculty Presentations

Changes to the Library of Congress Classification (LCC) schedules include updates to address the use of biased and harmful language and cutters that were built on this language. While the literature on why these changes are important is substantial, how these changes are implemented in individual institutions remains relatively unexplored in scholarship, most likely due to the unique nature of each library and the depth to which individual institutional environments must be considered when developing workflows. In this presentation, the practical impacts of implementing classification changes on collections will be examined and the process of implementing these changes in an …

Cataloging Middle Eastern Non-Book Materials Using Rda And Marc21: Objects, Cyrus Ford Zarganj

Library Faculty Presentations

This workshop covers an introduction to cataloging objects using RDA standards and the MARC21 format. This workshop provides an introductory overview of cataloging objects using RDA standards and the MARC21 format. It covers a wide range of objects, including realia, toys, games, tactile three-dimensional forms, microscope slides, models, and dioramas. The workshop focuses on addressing the challenges and various aspects specific to cataloging objects.

A Recipe To Gauge Success: Using Repository Data To Assess A Faculty Bibliography, Andrea Wirth, Christina Miskey

Library Faculty Presentations

In the 2016-2017 academic year, staff in the Scholarly Communication & Data Services Department at UNLV University Libraries began to compile a comprehensive faculty research bibliography for display in the Digital Scholarship@UNLV institutional repository. The bibliography has been a significant aspect of the workload of the department and a major focus of the institutional repository ever since. While workflows for managing the bibliography evolved over time, metadata cleaning and management, author outreach, and uploading accompanying open access publications to the records remained consistent elements of the project. As scholarly communication and data services grew, department staff began to question the …

Stories To Empower Our Communities: Promoting Diverse Lgbtqia+ Narratives In Picture Book Collections, Amanda Melilli, Alicia G. Vaandering, James W. Rosenzweig

Library Faculty Presentations

Do you want to move past marking that diversity checkbox and take your LGBTQIA+ collection development to the next level? As seen through the work of Diverse BookFinder, how historically underrepresented identities are portrayed in our collections is just as important as increasing the number of books depicting these identities. This presentation moves beyond asking if there is LGBTQIA+ representation in recently published picture books and instead explores the more complex questions of who is being represented, in what ways, to what extent, and why each type of narrative is important to children and their families. Join us to gain …

In This Together: Challenges And Opportunities For Collaborative Health Sciences Collection Development, Ana Corral, Stefanie Lapka

Library Faculty Research

An ideal objective of collection management is the development of a library collection that meets the needs of users and in the case of university libraries, the academic and research needs of a campus community. But in today’s technology-driven, budget-conscious environment, collection development at academic health sciences libraries can present challenging issues for those responsible, especially librarians new to collection development or whose primary responsibilities are situated elsewhere. Issues include gaining familiarity with institutional collection development and purchasing processes, selector collaboration, managing multiple library locations, acquiring non-traditional material, and developing more diverse and inclusive collections.

This paper will present an …

Teaching Information Literacy In Untrusting Times: Prioritize Research For Understanding (Not Just Knowledge), Mark N. Lenker Iii

Library Faculty Presentations

A recent Pew study suggests that trust in experts is declining, a trend that requires educators to reframe expectations for learning through research. Rather than emphasizing the characteristics of credible sources (which skeptics and partisans seem increasingly eager to dispute), information literacy teachers should redirect their efforts to prioritize research for a more thorough and realistic understanding of how sources relate to one another. We will review teaching practices in college-level instruction in information literacy and composition that promote and obscure understanding as a learning goal for research.

Participants will:

1. Test-drive a discussion exercise that they can use with their …

Relationships Between Healthcare Technology Experience, Acceptance, Attitudes, Self-Efficacy And Readiness In Pre-Licensure Nursing Students, Emily Lynne Boyce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: Technology is embedded in many aspects of healthcare. This is especially true in nursing, where technology is used daily in charting, medication administration, clinical decision-making, healthcare team communication, and information resource utilization. In nursing programs, students are exposed to healthcare technologies and expected to use them once entering the workforce. Healthcare technologies such as electronic health records (EHR), barcode medication administration, medication dispensing machines, and mobile technologies are critical to adopt to leverage their efficiencies and safety mechanisms to provide the best patient care. Despite evidence indicating the benefits of using healthcare technologies, new graduate nurses enter the workforce …