Library and Information Science Commons^™

A ‘Culture Of Assessment’ Planning Toolkit: Blueprints To Organically Grow Assessment Capacity And Support, Lindsay Ozburn

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

A well-rounded Culture of Assessment was crucial for success.

The new position provided opportunities to explore a wide range of prescripted and organically grown assessment initiatives.

The primary goal was to build assessment capacity and support, and break down silos that caused communication to collapse.

'Capitol'izing On Opportunities: Creating Collaborative Library Spaces Through Partnerships With Campus Organizations, Lindsay Ozburn, Jen Kirk, Teagan Eastman

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

With the formation of a new Library Spaces Committee we had a choice to maintain the status quo of:

Decision-making based on budget, timing, and previous choices.

One-time projects.

Or forging a new path of collaboration.

Crowdsourcing Metadata Practices At Usu, Anna-Maria Arnljots, Andrea Payant, Becky Skeen, Randy Williams

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Beyond Books: Cataloging Special Format Items, Nicole Lewis, Alison Mccormack, Becky Skeen, Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Communicating Computational Concepts And Practices Within High School Students’ Portfolios Of Making Electronic Textiles, Debora Lui, Justice T. Walker, Sheri Hanna, Yasmin B. Kafai, Deborah A. Fields, Gayithri Jayathirtha

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Portfolios have recently gained traction within computer science education as a way to assess students’ computational thinking and practices. Whereas traditional assessments such as exams tend to capture learning within artificial settings at a single point in time, portfolios provide more authentic opportunities to document a trajectory of students’ learning and practices in everyday contexts. Furthermore, because communication itself has been defined as an important computational thinking practice, portfolios give students a place to practice this skill in the classroom. In this study, we report on the implementation of a digital portfolio with a class of 21 high school students …

Altruism Or Self-Interest? Exploring The Motivations Of Open Access Authors, Robert Heaton, Dylan Burns, Becky Thoms

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

More than 250 authors at Utah State University published an Open Access (OA) article in 2016. Analysis of survey results and publication data from Scopus suggests that the following factors led authors to choose OA venues: ability to pay publishing charges, disciplinary colleagues’ positive attitudes toward OA, and personal feelings such as altruism and desire to reach a wide audience. Tenure status was not an apparent factor. This article adds to the body of literature on author motivations and can inform library outreach and marketing efforts, the creation of new publishing models, and the conversation about the larger scholarly publishing …

The Picture Of Smartphones At School Is Not A Dire One And The Picture Of Student Competence Is A Bright One, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In the United States, where I am based, one would get the impression that smartphones are a dangerous drug. Adults worry about smartphone addiction, the correlation of depression with smartphone usage, and an excess amount of screen time (e.g., Elhai, Levine, Dvorak, & Hall, 2016; Duke & Montag, 2017; Škařupová, Ólafsson, & Blinka, 2017). News headlines appear about technology moguls who will not allow their own children to have their own mobile device despite they themselves being the leaders in smartphone products and services. This then evokes guilt and causes anxiety for all the other American adults who are not …

Academic Libraries, Government Information, And The Persistent Problem Of Jargon, Jennifer P. Kirk, Alex J. Sundt, Teagan Eastman

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

The shift to born-digital and digitized materials has ultimately increased access and convenience for users, but in many ways it has also complicated the process of finding information. While users may struggle with catalog interfaces or reading call numbers, most have a basic understanding of how to locate a physical book. But in the digital environment, users have no built-in model for what sequence of clicks or keywords will get them to the information they need. This problem is exacerbated for specialized areas like government information, where more and more data and documents are readily available online via a variety …

Review Of Records And Information Management, 2nd Edition, Joshua J. Zimmerman

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Records and Information Management, 2^nd Edition.

Building Community, Fostering Collaboration, And Engaging Bridge Program Students With A College’S Historical Archives, Russell Michalak, Monica D. T. Rysavy, Gregory C. Thompson

Journal of Western Archives

Similar to smaller archives, this college’s archives have not been traditionally accessible online. Two instructors sought to teach summer bridge program (Boot Camp) students basic archival practices and quantitatively measure their information literacy skills through using the Information Literacy Skills (ILA) and Students’ Perceptions of their Information Skills-Questionnaire (SPIL-Q) instruments (cite). Boot Camp students’ average perceived confidence with IL skills as assessed by the SPIL-Q instrument increased from 4.00 to 4.77 (+19.2%) on the post-training SPIL-Q. By adding the ILA and SPIL-Q instruments to the course curriculum, combined with end of course reflection questions, the instructors were able to quantitatively …

Poets, Pioneers, Sci Fi Authors And Arctic Explorers: Deaccessioning Audiovisual Materials In The Archives, Lisa E. Duncan, Trent Purdy

Journal of Western Archives

In 2017 the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections (UALSC) conducted a survey of audiovisual materials in its collections. The Multimedia Archivist collected data on the content, quantity, format and condition of these materials. Deaccessioning collections was not a practice UALSC had routinely implemented in the past. However with the additional information collected during this survey obvious candidates for deaccessioning arose. The Multimedia Archivist was concerned about the long term preservation of these collections so it was imperative that UALSC take action. The backlog for the reformatting of audiovisual materials was large and the budget limited. The collections identified for …

Documenting Disasters: A Focus On Floods, Patricia J. Rettig

Journal of Western Archives

A more thorough understanding of disasters can help archivists assemble and acquire collections of depth that will be of wide use to scholars, survivors, and others. To investigate the broader context of disasters, the focus of this article is on natural disasters, looking at floods in particular, with the hope that the information can be applied to other tragedies. The article includes an in-depth examination of disaster studies literature of assistance to archivists, along with accounts of experiences working with flood collections.

Jumping In: Creating An Assessment Program For The L. Tom Perry Special Collections Reading Room, J. Gordon Daines Iii, Cindy R. Brightenburg

Journal of Western Archives

This case study describes the development and implementation of a formalized assessment program for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections reading room and reference desk. This assessment program had two principal goals: 1) to provide information to the reference staff that would help them better manage the reference desk and to improve the service provided to patrons and 2) to gather information that could be shared with curators and department leadership in order to help them make better collection management decisions. The case study looks at the kinds of statistics utilized by the department, the impact of the assessment program …

Marginalia No. 42, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University

Marginalia

• Library Outreach, page 2
• Friends of Merrill-Cazier Library, page 4
• Nephi Craig, page 5
• A World Transformed, page 6
• The Latinx Cultural Center, page 8
• New Acquisitions, page 9
• Regional Campuses, page 10
• Cache Valley Library Association, page 11

What We Talk About When We Talk About Digital Libraries: Ux Approaches To Labeling Online Special Collections, Dylan Burns, Alex J. Sundt, Darcy Pumphrey, Becky Thoms

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Digital libraries, digital collections, digital archives—just a few of the common terms used to describe the output of large scale digitization efforts. While the term digital library is commonly used by librarians, the term itself reflects the specific disciplinary and technical environments in which the concept for a “digital library” was first imagined. Terminology has been well explored in academic libraries, but questions remain regarding how meaningful digital library and related terms are to the users of digitized archival collections. In 2016, a reverse category test was conducted with target users of Utah State University Libraries’ digital collections to determine …

Facticity, Or Critical Thought In Contentious Times: A Library/University Partnership, Britt Fagerheim

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Whose Responsibility Is It? A Statewide Survey Of School Librarians On Responsibilities And Resources For Teaching Digital Citizenship, Abigail L. Phillips, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In 2015 the Utah State Legislature passed H.B. 213, “Safe Technology Utilization and Digital Citizenship in Public Schools,” mandating that K–12 schools provide digital citizenship instruction. This study presents an exploratory endeavor to understand how school librarians in a state that adopted digital citizenship legislation engage with digital citizenship instruction and their perceptions of a school librarian’s role in providing this instruction. We conducted a statewide survey of Utah school librarians, including questions focusing on digital citizenship resources used, current instruction within the school, and inquiries about improvements to current instruction. School librarians expressed a desire to be more involved …

Everybody’S Publishing But Me! How A Writing Group Can Help Actualize Your Publishing Dreams, Dory Rosenberg, Karin M. Kettenring, Anne R. Diekama

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

On any given day, one can go to the Chronicle of Higher Education and see a new article on the trials and tribulations of publishing and seeking tenure in academia. Anxiety inducing titles such as “Measuring Up” and “The Stress of Academic Publishing” reaffirm the notion that one must publish, or perish. While this type of pressure pushes some to success, for others, it makes it harder to write. However, you don’t have to travel this writing and publishing road alone. Inspired by the book Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists by Ellen Daniell, a small …

Chatting Without Borders: Assessment As The First Step In Cultivating An Accessible Chat Reference Service, Teagan Eastman, Mckenzie Hyde, Katie Strand, Rachel Wishkoski

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

As distance education programs grow at college and universities across the country, libraries must ensure virtual reference services are prepared to meet the needs of patrons in these programs. This article describes the process and results of a 2018 chat analysis conducted at a midsize research university with a large distance education program. The authors discuss the implications of their findings, as well as their process of closing the assessment loop. By using data to inform changes to virtual reference services, chat becomes more accessible and approachable to all users regardless of location.

Utah State University’S Cache Valley Latinx Voices Project: Social Justice In The Archives, Randy Williams, Eduardo Ortiz, Maria Luisa Spicer-Escalante

Journal of Western Archives

Northern Utah Speaks is an in-depth ethnographic effort by Utah State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives (SCA) to bring diverse voices of Northern Utah communities into the Archives. Since 2006, the focus is with social justice in mind as SCA endeavors to bring the voices of underrepresented and historically excluded people into the Archives. Calls to make archival records more inclusive stretch back fifty years, however for many archival institutions this work has moved forward in fits and starts, if at all, and most often without the input and assistance from the community to be studied, collected, and included. …

Voices From Drug Court: Partnering To Bring Historically Excluded Communities Into The Archives, Randy Williams, Jennifer Duncan

Journal of Western Archives

While many archivists have evolved their professional scope to bring diversity into their collections, we posit that much can still be done. One area for growth is greater work by archival professionals to partner with communities to help them tell and preserve their own stories, incorporating a community’s own perspective and goals. This article discusses the community-based project between the Cache Valley Utah Drug Court and Utah State University Library’s Special Collections & Archives. The project was conceived and co-managed by Andrew Dupree (name used with permission), a participant and now graduate of the Cache Valley Drug Court. Perhaps the …

The Cost Of Care And The Impact On The Archives Profession, Alexis Braun Marks, Rachael Dreyer, Jennifer Johnson, Michelle Sweetser

Journal of Western Archives

The archives profession has, in recent years, exerted considerable effort to become more welcoming and inclusive to diverse archival professionals. Many of these efforts have focused intensively on recruiting a diverse workforce. In this article, the authors propose a new approach through which to create and sustain inclusive archival work environments: caregiving. National research has shown that caregiving responsibilities affect women more than their male counterparts, and within these gender divides there are aspects of caregiving that impact individuals of different racial and cultural backgrounds unequally. The issue of navigating the demands of caregiving, work responsibilities, and professional engagement must …

Understanding My Home: The Potential For Affective Impact And Cultural Competence In Primary Source Literacy, Jaycie Vos, Yadira Guzman

Journal of Western Archives

The archival profession is currently embracing primary source literacy in significant ways and fostering important conversations about diversity, inclusion, and affect in libraries and archives. This all contributes to concrete steps toward change and a more open conception of who uses archives and how, and what the impact could be. Taking one student’s experience from a series of assignments designed to encourage archival research and discovery of community history, the authors encourage the serious consideration of the emotional impact of primary source materials, particularly those that reveal underrepresented historical narratives, and their power to connect students to complex, larger narratives …

When Building Namesakes Have Ties To White Supremacy: A Case Study Of Oregon State University’S Building Names Evaluation Process, Natalia M. Fernández

Journal of Western Archives

In recent years, more and more communities, including colleges and universities, across the United States are challenging the existence of memorials associated with the Confederacy and white supremacy. Archivists and special collections librarians are often called upon to provide historical context, and have the opportunity to engage their communities in productive and transformative discourses. As a case study, readers will learn about the Building and Places Names Evaluation process at Oregon State University; the process which included developing evaluation criteria, providing historical research assistance to scholars, designing a community engagement plan, and implementing a renaming process. Readers will be able …

The Doorway From Heart To Heart: Diversity's Stubbornly Persistent Illusion, Terry Baxter

Journal of Western Archives

Archivists have been working to diversify the archival endeavor for 35 years. On the face of things, this work has had limited success. Perhaps archivists should recognize that diversity is already in place and their role is in hiding and revealing that diversity. They should also recognize that their power flows from community and connection, not from control.

Seeking Grace: Reconstructing The History Of African American Alumnae At The University Of Denver, Katherine Crowe

Journal of Western Archives

The University of Denver (DU), a private college founded in 1864–12 years before Colorado became a state–has recently begun to grapple with its complex and sometimes fraught histories with alumni of color. The DU Archives has partnered over the past five years with the Sistah Network, a student group formed by Black women faculty to support Black women graduate students, as its founder, Dr. Nicole Joseph, wished to focus specifically on the history of the University's Black alumnae. Since 2013, the Archives has completed several oral histories with alumnae from the 1960s, and have recovered the names, graduation dates, and …

Archivist-In-Residence: Advocating And Managing Archival Diversity Residency Opportunities In University Archives And Special Collections, Angela Fritz

Journal of Western Archives

This article outlines a basic roadmap for administrators of university archives and special collections who seek to develop an "archivist-in-residence" position for the first time. The article explores how university archives and special collections can apply diversity management best practices to optimize their unit and organizational approach to diversity and inclusion initiatives. Topics encompass advocacy models, defining a culture of mentorship, recruitment, onboarding and training, assessment as well as addressing opportunities for innovation and areas of expansion.

Introduction, Helen Wong Smith

Journal of Western Archives

Introduction to the Special Issue on Diversity and Inclusion.

Wisdom Of The Crowd: Successful Ways To Engage The Public In Metadata Creation, Andrea Payant, Becky Skeen

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Successful Ways to Engage the Public in Metadata Creation: Crowdsourcing, outsourcing, interviews, and community events.

Informing Website Navigation Design With Team-Based Card Sorting, Alex Sundt, Teagan Eastman

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

In 2016, Utah State University (USU) Libraries redesigned the library website’s main menu and underlying information architecture (IA) in response to a number of known usability problems and limitations. Card sorting studies were conducted with a group of USU undergraduate students and a mixed group of faculty and graduate students to help develop a better understanding of users’ mental models of library-related research and service tasks. Participants worked in teams to sort, rank and label cards pertaining to the content and feature of the library’s website. Afterwards, participants discussed and performed usability tasks on each other’s categories. Results were used …