Library and Information Science Commons^™

Letter From The Book Review Editor, Mckenzie M. Lemhouse

South Carolina Libraries

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Co-Editors, April P. Akins, Megan Palmer

South Carolina Libraries

No abstract provided.

“Describing Without Identifying”: The Phenomenological Role Of Gender In Cataloging Practices, Travis L. Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores gendering practices of visual information catalogers. The work aims to understand how catalogers perceive gender when describing persons within visual information. The qualitative study deployed queer interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how catalogers think broadly about describing identity. The infused queer theoretical tenets helped to understand that while participants may not directly name gender as challenging, the conflation of gender into cisnormative monoliths (assuming every person's gender matches their sex-assigned-at birth) or silence around gender produce telling opinions concerning nonbinary gender. The research also utilized a Think Aloud exercise wherein participants undertook in-the-moment cataloging three moving images. …

In My Skin, Her Skin: An Artistic Exploration Of The Intersection Of Queer Femininity And Body Image, Stephanie Allen

Senior Theses

This project aims to visually record the feeling of being seen and queer women and non-binary people’s developing knowledge of their identity. Using interview questions that focused on body satisfaction, body selectiveness in partners, queer identity, and one’s relationship with femininity, a series of “floating collages” was created to record and juxtapose the appearance of the body with one’s internal relationship to the body. By realistically showing a variety of different body types that all relate to queerness and femininity in some way, one may expand their presupposed notions about the body enforcing identity. Additionally, despite these varying appearances of …

Including Latinx Communities In Academic Libraries: A Theoretical Approach To Information Access, Andrew A. Wakelee, Kim M. Thompson

Faculty Publications

While more Latinx students continue to enroll in higher education, physical, intellectual, and socio-cultural barriers to information may continue to impede their success and inclusion. A tripartite theoretical model that examines physical, intellectual, and socio-cultural information access provides insights for academic libraries to better meet Latinx students’ information needs and include them in campus life. This paper gives an overview of the theoretical framework along with practical steps libraries can take to improve information equity.

University Libraries Collection, Disclosure, And Use Of Personally Identifiable Information, University Of South Carolina Libraries

University Libraries Policies and Reports

Privacy and confidentiality are fundamental values of libraries and are vital to the preservation of academic freedom. According to the American Library Association, “all people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. When users recognize or fear that their privacy or confidentiality is compromised, true freedom of inquiry no longer exists” (ALA, 2006). The University of South Carolina Libraries respects the confidentiality of patron records and communications in all formats in compliance with federal and state law, and with university data privacy policies.

The following policy describes how University …

Defining And Detecting Toxicity On Social Media: Context And Knowledge Are Key, Amit Sheth, Valerie Shalin, Ugur Kursuncu

Publications

As the role of online platforms has become increasingly prominent for communication, toxic behaviors, such as cyberbullying and harassment, have been rampant in the last decade. On the other hand, online toxicity is multi-dimensional and sensitive in nature, which makes its detection challenging. As the impact of exposure to online toxicity can lead to serious implications for individuals and communities, reliable models and algorithms are required for detecting and understanding such communications. In this paper We define toxicity to provide a foundation drawing social theories. Then, we provide an approach that identifies multiple dimensions of toxicity and incorporates explicit knowledge …

Decolonising The School Library: Embedding Indigenous Authority, Advocacy, And Power In Information And Learning Spaces, Lana Alsabbagh

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

NZ is a country grappling with its history of settler-colonialism. The Ministry of Education considers indigenous Māori students ‘priority learners,’ as historically they have been severely neglected and harmed by the education system. As the school with the largest Maori student population in New Zealand, Manurewa High School is committed to decolonising and indigenizing the school’s curriculum, marking a radical departure from earlier, Western-controlled models of teaching in a collaborative effort to transform the school’s culture and lead to improved outcomes for Māori students. The school as a whole needs to ensure achievement as well as understanding of all its …

What We Learned From The Memory Project: A Video Oral History Archive With Bilingual Content, Luo Zhou

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

No abstract provided.

Addressing Inaccessibility To Library Services: Perspectives Of Students With Visual Impairment In A Nigerian University, Ngozi Eunice Osadebe

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The problem of access to library services for students with visual impairment in African countries has been noted by several authors (Ekwelem (2013), Ayoung, Baada & Baayel (2021) and Aubrey & Mapulanga, 2016)). In response to many of the problems people with visual impairment encounter in libraries, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) in 2016 endorsed the Marrakesh treaty and encouraged other libraries to adopt it to minimize the key barriers to access to information experienced by people with visual impairment. In line with this, many academic libraries in Nigeria, notably, Nnamdi Azikiwe Library University of Nigeria, Nsukka modified …

Informational Sustainability In Libraries: Enhancing More Inclusive, Egalitarian And Sustainable Services, Genilson Geraldo, Marli Dias De Souza Pinto

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

For many people, libraries are known as institutions that only promote the safekeeping, conservation and organization of knowledge. However, it is known that libraries have a wide range of services, with the potential for transformation, social change and socialization of knowledge for the community in which it operates. In this context, the question is: how to reverberate the potential of library services to society? How to make the library more inclusive, egalitarian and sustainable? And how can the community be made aware of the importance of the library for the growth, strengthening and transformation of society? In this perspective, this …

Decolonising The School Library: Embedding Indigenous Authority, Advocacy, And Power In Information And Learning Spaces, Lana Alsabbagh

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

NZ is a country grappling with its history of settler-colonialism. The Ministry of Education considers indigenous Māori students ‘priority learners,’ as historically they have been severely neglected and harmed by the education system. As the school with the largest Maori student population in New Zealand, Manurewa High School is committed to decolonising and indigenizing the school’s curriculum, marking a radical departure from earlier, Western-controlled models of teaching in a collaborative effort to transform the school’s culture and lead to improved outcomes for Māori students. The school as a whole needs to ensure achievement as well as understanding of all its …

Supporting Immigrant Information Needs When The Library Is Closed: A Case For Web-Based Newcomer Orientations, Corey J. Allender

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Supporting Immigrant Information Needs When the Library is Closed: A Case for Web-Based Newcomer Orientations

In the United States, immigrant communities have been hit especially hard by the economic, occupational, and social fallout that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. With libraries, government offices, and community centers closed, immigrants were left with far fewer options to satisfy their information needs during their initial adjustment to life in the United States.

In the early states of cultural adjustment, many newcomers face anxiety-inducing barriers that discourage interaction with libraries; as such, they often rely heavily on social networks for information (Wang et al., …

Public Information: Barrier Or Bridge?, Marie E. Eiriksson

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

A visit to a public space like a library is a journey through different professional spheres and domains. Your success might be defined by both the cityscape, the public transport system, the building itself as well as the staff and services offered at the library. All areas that are formed and described in different ways by public or private actors. Each step of the way may or may not be accessible and knowing how to avoid the gaps might mean the difference between success or failure.

For persons with disabilities, the access to useful and reliable information can be defining …

Third Place Libraries As A Space For Intercultural Participation: A Dynamic Learning Model For Creating Culturally Safe Environments, Marie D. Martel, Bob White

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

One of the main sources for re-conceptualizing the model of libraries, especially public libraries, as third places remains Robert Putnam in Better Together (2005) based on his work in Chicago Public Libraries, which he described as the "New Third Places". But what was new here when Putnam spoke of these "New Third Places"? He was then referring to the new context of diversity, and even super-diversity (Vertovec 2007), characteristic of our current societies. According to Putnam, the library as this "New Third Place" appears as a response to this problem of social distance and unease because it has this capacity …

Fostering Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion By Adopting Universal Design For Learning Principles In Academic Libraries, Stefanie Havelka, Rebecca Arzola

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Academic librarians support the Ethical Code of Conduct and have always embraced students and patrons with various abilities. This paper draws together research on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and showcases practical guidelines for academic library services. Since UDL is such a multifaceted framework, this article will not address all areas academic libraries can adopt it into their work practice. Instead, it will focus on the “traditional triad of public services: access, reference, and instruction.” (Coleman, Mallon, & Lo, 2015, p. 674)

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework explores accessibility, assistive technology, attitudinal barriers, collaboration, equity, and proactively adjusting …

Cultivating Innovation In African Public Libraries, Ramune Petuchovaite, Ugne Lipeikaite

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

To overcome daily challenges, many public libraries in developing and transition economy countries are using innovative approaches to deliver modern library services to meet user needs. Professional interaction between public librarians in the Global North and the Global South is relatively rare, and so the richness of experiences and innovative practices in the Global South often stays out of the sight of the international networks. Research on public library practices in lower resource countries is also scarce.

In 2010, the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) commissioned a major study into perceptions of public libraries in Africa, and found that …

Postdigital Librarianship, Michael Paulus

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic was an apocalyptic event. It was apocalyptic in the popular sense of the word, in that the pandemic was a sudden and global catastrophe. But the pandemic was also apocalyptic in a more literal sense, as an uncovering of deeper realities.[1] The pandemic quickly became an infodemic; it exposed and exacerbated systemic racial, economic, and other inequities; and it revealed the problems and potential of emerging technologies. Before the pandemic, it was already clear to many that it was past time “to reimagine what is possible.”[2] Now, as we emerge from the pandemic, there is …

Libraries As Pluralistic Public Spheres: Acknowledging Conflict To Promote Democratic Discourse, Lisa Engström

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

In library policies and library and information studies Habermas concept of public sphere is often used to highlight the public library as a place promoting democracy and inclusion by enabling interpersonal meetings between people with different lifestyles and background. Libraries are then conceived as accessible to all bridging social, economic, and cultural gaps, and promoting a perception of shared values between users (Aabø et al. 2010). I argue that vulnerable and excluded groups thereby may be hindered to form their own identity and to make their voices heard.

Accessibility and participation are core concepts when analysing libraries democratic potential. However, …

Peer Learning Experience To Grow Public Library Innovation: The Initiative For Young African Library Innovators, Ramune Petuchovaite, Ugne Lipeikaite

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

In 2014/15, we commissioned research into how and why public libraries innovate, and what encourages take-up of innovative practices by public libraries in developing countries. One of the main findings was that peer-to-peer activities are essential for public library innovation. Besides facilitating learning and ideas exchange, they create a platform for mutual support, when initiating a new service. Library visits, in which librarians can see innovative services 'in situ', and events like workshops and other training, and conferences, where they mingle and exchange practical experiences, and work together on projects, are effective channels for inspiring innovation (Femenía, A. M. G., …

Minimizing Harm While Maximizing Engagement: Using Identity Affinity Groups To Engage With Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Topics In Lis Courses, Sarah De La Rosa, Aaron Elkins, Tulip Majumdar, Vikki Orepitan, Rachel Simons, Andrew Vierkant

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

While diversity in the LIS field has made some progress during the last two decades (Kung et al., 2020), the whiteness of the discipline remains a problem (Brown et al., 2018) for patrons and practitioners. One way to address LIS’s whiteness problem is to better prepare pre-service librarians to effectively and respectfully engage with diverse communities (Jaeger et al., 2013) and LIS professionals of color (Mehra, 2020). However, the field still has progress to make in how it discusses diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) issues within LIS curricula (Pawley, 2006). Centering DEIJ topics with a humble and self-critical approach …

Eight Basic Literacies For Librarians: A New Normal Agenda For Librarianship Education, Lorri Mon

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Proposal Abstract: A New Normal Agenda in a COVID-Affected World

During the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries became a vital community support hub for information and broadband access. In March 2020 as K-12 schools and universities shifted to all-online classes, librarians taught people to use technologies, provided wireless hubs for classes and homework to those lacking home broadband digital access, and offered distance education test proctoring as well as online books, articles and databases. People sought information about sewing masks and making homemade hand sanitizer, and some library makerspaces 3-D printed face shields. Libraries partnered in health efforts to distribute free masks, …

Managing Without Capitalism: Transforming Library Leadership In Service Of Anti-Racism, Inclusion, And Equity, Heather Slania

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Library leaders at all levels are grappling with addressing institutional racism. Despite years of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) interventions and a recognition of the overwhelming whiteness of libraries, the profession is not a better or safer place for library workers of color, people from other marginalized communities, or anyone who has had to endure the normalized toxic library work environment.

Leaders are stuck and previous interventions have failed primarily due to two factors:

• Modern libraries (and the institutions that hold them) were constructed as tools of white supremacy.

• Library leadership and management concepts/practices are rooted in capitalism.

Numerous …

Moving Beyond World Music: An Exploration Of Non-Western Music Cataloging Practices In Higher Education And Where To Go From Here, Alastair L. Canavan

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

The term “world music” has been used for decades as a catchall genre to describe any form of music outside of Western classical. As a byproduct of the eurocentrism pervasive throughout academia, its use furthers a bubble that others or ignores Non-Western cultures and their music. By examining the public-facing catalogs of 13 university libraries across 10 different countries to determine to what extent Non-Western music is included in their collections, how it is cataloged, and if the term “world music” is used to do so, the specific cataloging practices and norms that perpetuate a bias toward Western classical music …

Public Sphere Institutions Or Safe Spaces — Can Libraries Be Both?, Kira M. Del Mar

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Public libraries have often been viewed as integral parts of the Habermasian public sphere and arenas for democratic dialogue. At the same time, they are also frequently declared safe spaces for marginalized groups, almost as a given. Situated in the specific context of Norwegian public libraries and with a focus on LGBTQIA+ users, I will examine tensions between these two theoretical approaches to the public library space.

Visibility across differences is a common thread running through the Nordic literature on libraries and the public sphere. Ragnar Audunson writes, for example, that libraries are low-intensive meeting places “with a potential of …

Building Bridges: The Role Of The Relational Librarian, Sunniva Evjen

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Building bridges: the role of the relational librarian

The link between interpersonal trust, participation, social capital and democracy is evident through scholarly work in different research areas (see for example Sullivan & Transue 1999). These concepts are also relevant to discuss in relation to “improved communities”, not least in connection to the recent “social turn” of public libraries, which encompasses an understanding of the library as “a locus and an enabler of social processes in the interpersonal sense” (Nolin & Söderholm 2015). Both public library practice and research has sought to discover how libraries contribute to community-building activities, which in …

Libraries Advancing Social Justice And Improving The Health Care Of The Lgbtqai+ Communities, Kayo Denda, Daniel Delmonaco, Victoria Wagner

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

LGBTQAI+ communities have faced discrimination in health care due to inadequate medical care, unfair health insurance policies and entrenched prejudice. To remedy this situation, many medical schools and hospitals have created co-curricular interventions, such as events and programs and new staff positions to address this issue. This librarian-led collaboration challenges and advances the discussion on comprehensive LGBTQAI+ health care and promotes deeper understanding of LGBTQAI+ communities by transforming health professionals’ cultural competency and compassionate health care practices towards equity and social justice.

This project – Babs Siperstein Humanities and Medicine Series - was born when the faculty affiliated with the …

Progressive Librarianship In “Red” America, Bill Crowley

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

Progressive Librarianship in “Red” America

Abstract

A number of library-related illusions remain in the wake of Biden’s defeat of Trump in the 2020 presidential election. While it is tempting for progressives to see “Trump Country” as consisting only of the states won by the former president, over 38 million of the more than 74,000,000 votes for Trump were cast in states won by Biden. Additionally, librarians who are overwhelmingly liberal, cherish such beliefs as (1) documented facts are able to change the minds of opponents, and (2) critical theories will somehow be acceptable for guiding service in communities dominated by …

A Case For Open Educational Resources (Oers) For Liberation: Leveraging Librarians And Library Skills, Aisling Coyne, Amy Fitzpatrick

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

This paper will establish the case for Open Educational Resources (OER) for Liberation for Ireland, and the leveraging of librarians in pursuit of creating a database of Open resources for public good and public liberation within the context of post-neutrality librarianship. The researchers have conducted a literature review of existing OER initiatives and emerging areas of Open Education. The review is underpinned by the philosophical and pedagogical motivations of Open, with a keen focus on equity, access and accessibility. Through this research, it has been found that there is a strong framework available for establishing a national OER initiative, and …

Information Literacy Working Group Of The Brazilian Federation Of Associations Of Librarians, Information Scientists And Institutions: Collaborations For A New Awakening Of Librarianship In Brazil, Grupo De Trabalho Competência Em Informação Grupo De Trabalho Competência Em Informação

New Librarianship Symposia Series: Fall 2021

How to sensitize librarians and encourage awareness that the library is a space for learning and rupture, that provides effective conditions for developing a critical and ethical sense based on the principles of Information Literacy in their community? This is one of the questions motivating the Information Literacy Working Group (GT - CoInfo) of the Federação Brasileira de Associações de Bibliotecários, Cientistas de Informação e Instituições (FEBAB) to scrutinize its agenda of actions, becoming a space for reflection, from the perspective of the associative movement, on how to establish links between practices and academic discussions about Information Literacy in Brazil. …