Library and Information Science Commons^™

Wikipedia And Scholarpedia: A Comparative Case Study And Its Implications To Information Literacy, Junli Diao, Stefka Tzanova, Anthony Bishop

Publications and Research

The free online Wikipedia receives increasing attention from academic librarians; however, its counterpart Scholarpedia seems to be neglected. This case study selected two articles bearing the same title Intentionality from Scholarpedia and Wikipedia and brought them under scrutiny of their microstructure and macrostructure. Both microstructure and macrostructure analysis indicated that the addressed readership of the two encyclopedic articles is understandably different in terms of readability and content. The comparative case study concluded with empirical implications that both online, free encyclopedias provide academic librarians with pedagogical instruments to help students engage in authentic knowledge construction.

Peel, Pare, Plate, Post: Repository Mise En Place For Collecting Faculty Articles, Adriana Palmer, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

Mise en place (pronounced “meez ahn plahs”) is a term used in professional kitchens to describe the organizing and arranging of the workspace, ingredients, and equipment before beginning to cook. It translates directly from French as “to put in place” (“Mise en Place,” n.d.).

A carefully constructed mise en place is the key to this recipe for adding faculty articles to an institutional repository (IR). Step by step, this recipe details one proven way for a head chef to prepare a scholarly communication kitchen for this project: (1) identifying sous-chefs to assist in the project, (2) gathering ingredients from multiple …

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

Publications and Research

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.

Students And Parents: How Academic Libraries Serve A Growing Population, Marta Bladek

Publications and Research

In recognition of the critical role libraries play in the educational lives of parenting students, there has been a noticeable trend in academic libraries to offer services and spaces for students and their children. This article reviews recent LIS literature on student parent initiatives in academic libraries, with the emphasis on the United States. The purpose of this synthesis is to highlight demographic data, research findings, and case studies that, considered together, may significantly expand the profession’s knowledge about the barriers parenting students face in accessing the library and its services. The first part of the article lays out the …

Teaching Authors About Predatory Journals In The One-On-One Consultation, Monica Berger

Publications and Research

This recipe guides academic librarians through author consultations related to predatory or questionable publishers. Lists of predatory journals provide quick answers to questions but leave authors in the dark. The focus of the consultation is to closely examine negative and positive indicators for a specific journal. Although it is valuable for authors to learn the signals of predatory journals, it is equally if not more important to emphasize tools like Think.Check.Submit that stimulate critical and analytical thinking about publishing choices. The consultation will result in a more empowered and scholarly information literate colleague and provides opportunities to introduce authors to …

Sharing Library And Information Resources During A Global Pandemic Introduction From The Guest Editor, Beth Posner

Publications and Research

Written in the summer and fall of 2020, and revised and published in 2021, the articles in this special issue of Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery and Electronic Reserve offer examples of how the library community has been meeting local and global needs for information during this pandemic. They highlight the challenges and issues that have regrettably, but understandably, limited information sharing, as well as some best practices that have emerged. They also report on local activities and details for which there is not yet a consensus. This journal issue is not the first word on the subject; we …

Jlsc Board Editorial 2021, Anne Gilliland, Rebekah Kati, Jennifer Solomon, Dave S. Ghamandi, Jill Cirasella, David Lewis, Dede Dawson

Publications and Research

It hardly needs to be said that 2020 was a difficult year for the world. COVID-19 has infected over 120 million people and killed over 2 million as of March 2021 (Johns Hopkins). At the same time, police violence against people of color continues, even as communities engage in long-overdue reckoning initiatives. Across the globe, researchers, governments, and communities needed quick, open, up-to-date information on testing for, treating, and preventing COVID-19. Our increased dependence on technology during lockdowns provided some with safety and continuity, while others experienced the widening of the digital divide. There is no greater urgency than the …

Communicating To Improve The Lived Experiences Of Learning During Covid-19, Nandi Prince

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mastering The Solo Juggling Act: A Library Manager’S Reflections On Access Services, Tenure, And Liaising For Academic Disciplines, Nilda Alexandra Sanchez-Rodriguez

Publications and Research

Solo tenure-track librarians in academia must discover the key to mastering the fine art of multitasking to execute concepts of seamless user experiences. This article covers notable practices and principles of Solo tenure-track librarians in academia, specifically at the City University of New York, including overseeing a library division, satisfying provisions of the academic triad (excellence in teaching, service, and creative scholarship), and liaising various academic disciplines. Solos appointed to oversee a library division coordinate every aspect of access service (stacks maintenance, facilities management, user experience, etc.) in addition to being director. Directing a specialized library unit accompanies public-facing expectations …

Review Of Memory Lab Network Resources, Annie E. Tummino, Tomasz Gubernat, Jeanie Pai

Publications and Research

Review of Memory Lab Network resources for American Archivist Reviews, a portal which highlights websites, digital collections, and technologies that have an impact on the archives profession. The authors review the resources published by the Memory Lab Network and discuss their own work building a Memory Lab at the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library of Queens College, CUNY.

In Pursuit Of Diversity In The Cuny Library Profession: An Effective Approach To Leadership In Academic Libraries, Nilda Alexandra Sanchez-Rodriguez

Publications and Research

Maximizing the current organizational culture and diversity/inclusion practices within CUNY libraries is crucial to retaining highly talented support staff with significant potential for future leadership roles. This research explores equity, diversity, and inclusion within the library profession, with the intention of implementing strategic frameworks to attract, recruit, and retain underrepresented groups within the University. To spotlight areas of upward mobility within CUNY academic libraries, a CUNY-wide Library Workplace Climate survey on the perceptions of diversity, universal inclusion, and career progression was conducted. The scope of the survey study compares the different perspectives of CUNY librarians, full-time library classified paraprofessionals, and …

“How Can We Do Better?”: Empowering Diverse Voices Through An Academic/Public Library Partnership, Annie E. Tummino, Jo-Ann Wong

Publications and Research

Queens Memory is a local community archiving and oral history project, co-administered by Queens Public Library and Queens College, CUNY. During COVID-19, members from both institutions collaborated to create a series of virtual roundtables hosted on Facebook Live, centered on social justice, current events, and creating positive social change. Specific examples include xenophobia and Asian Americans during COVID-19; the Black Lives Matter movement; student activism and political engagement; and equity/inclusion in archives. In selecting these topics and speakers, we made sure that the diversity and lived experiences of our communities were represented, and that speakers included both scholars and students. …

Tending To An Overgrown Garden: Weeding And Rebuilding A Libguides V2 System, Rebecca Hyams

Publications and Research

In 2019, the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s library undertook a massive cleanup and reconfiguration of the content and guides contained in their LibGuides v2 system, which had been allowed to grow out of control over several years as no one was in charge of its maintenance. This article follows the process from identifying issues, getting departmental buy-in, and doing all of the necessary cleanup work for links and guides. The aim of the project was to make their guides easier for students to use and understand and for librarians to maintain. At the same time, work was done to …

Commemorating A Legacy Of Dissent: Revisiting Campus Activism 1968-1970, Annie E. Tummino

Publications and Research

On the heels of the student revolt at Columbia in 1968, Queens College students launched their own militant actions and demands for change on campus. Using primary source materials from the Benjamin Rosenthal Library’s Special Collections and Archives, the presentation covers the New Left and Anti-War movements, as well as an uprising led by Black and Puerto Rican students influenced by the ideologies of Black Power and self-determination. The role of archives in preserving activist history and educating current and future generations is also touched on.

Advancing College Students’ Thesis Writing Ability: A Case Study Of An Online Library Instruction Course, Derek Stadler, Dianne Gordon Conyers

Publications and Research

The following case study adapted a library instruction course to support students’ ability to construct a thesis statement. Given at an urban junior college, the goal of the credit-bearing course is for students to acquire effective research strategies for finding reliable information and to develop information literacy skills. For this study, pedagogy divided thesis writing development over the course of several weeks in which students reviewed sample theses and the work of their peers, providing feedback to fellow students and revising their own work based on feedback from both students and instructors. The class section in this study utilized Blackboard …

The Case For Oer In Lis Education, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

The increasingly high cost of textbooks coupled with the pedagogical opportunities presented by Creative Commons licenses has provided fertile ground for the development of open educational resources (OER) initiatives as an impactful practice for improving student success. Librarians are leading advocates for OER, yet little has been published on how librarians learn about OER or how faculty use OER in library and information science (LIS) programs. For this study, the author surveyed LIS faculty about their awareness and usage of OER as well as the role they imagine for future librarians in open education. LIS faculty, current and future librarians, …

The Concept, Design, Implementation, And Assessment Of Case-Based Learning In An Information Literacy Classroom, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

Case-Based Learning (CBL) is a popular and successful teaching method used for a long time in disciplines such as medicine, business, law, and computer science. In the past decade, there has been a trend to introduce CBL into library instructions as an active teaching approach in the field of library and information science. Although a few studies have been conducted to investigate the advantages of this teaching technique in the library and information science literature, there remains a substantial absence of first-hand instructional experiences and observations from academic librarians who are actively teaching information literacy. This article presents a personal …

Resuming On-Site Services: Final Report And Recommendations Of The Cuny Libraries Covid-19 Task Force, Kathleen Dreyer, Jeffrey Delgado, Karen Okamoto, Steven Ovadia, Roxanne Shirazi, Michael Waldman, Haruko Yamauchi, Simone Yearwood

Publications and Research

This report was prepared by the CUNY Libraries COVID-19 Task Force, which formed in May 2020 with the following charge:

Authorized by the CUNY Office of Library Services and the Council of Chief Librarians, the task force is charged to survey best practices shared by libraries world-wide and to develop guidelines for CUNY Libraries site management, staff and user safety, circulation and resource sharing, and materials handling as pandemic conditions evolve.

A summary of the draft report was submitted by Interim Dean for Library Services Polly Thistlethwaite to CUNY’s Academic & Student Support Task Force on June 23, 2020. The …

Blended Interests: Graphic Novel Collection Development From An Unlikely Source, Rebecca Hyams

Publications and Research

What happens when you let a librarian blend their personal interest in graphic novels and manga with collection development and outreach, even if it falls outside of their primary work areas? This session will cover the basics of building and managing graphic novel and manga collections in academic libraries, the development of our library’s graphic novel and manga collection, as well as some of the ways in which our library has worked to increase student engagement using graphic novels and manga as a draw.

Beginning And Extending The Conversation, Maria T. Accardi, Emily Drabinski, Alana Kumbier

Publications and Research

The co-editors of a special issue of Communications in Information Literacy describe the origins and context for this issue and provide an overview of the ideas and perspectives of the contributors. The issue looks back at the past decade since the publication of Critical Library Instruction: Theories & Methods (Library Juice Press/Litwin Books, 2010).

Collaborative Assignments And Projects: Interdisciplinary Collaborative Assignments And Projects: Case Studies In Information Literacy And Higher Order Thinking Skills, Leslie Ward, Trikartikaningsih Byas, Alisa Cercone, Barbara L. Lynch, Kathleen Wentrack

Publications and Research

In their efforts to assist and enhance student learning, Queensborough’s faculty engages in developing and implementing various pedagogical innovations. One unique practice at Queensborough is Students Working in Interdisciplinary Groups (SWIG), a HIP that falls within the AAC&U designation of Collaborative Assignments and Projects, which incorporates collaboration with library faculty as an integral component to student learning. This chapter will explain the SWIG pedagogy and process, faculty collaboration with the QCC library, its replicable model, case studies, and assessment.

Librarians In Dissertation Deposit: Infusing An Institutional Ritual With Scholarly Communication Instruction, Roxanne Shirazi, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

Most doctoral students are required to produce a dissertation that makes an original contribution to their field of study in order to fulfill their degree requirements. The scholarly nature of this requirement informs how students and faculty approach doctoral research, but universities often treat the dissertations themselves merely as student records, not scholarly contributions. Librarians, however, are uniquely situated to work with graduate students as emerging participants in the scholarly communication ecosystem and help them prepare their dissertations for an outside audience. Librarians have the expertise to advise students with questions regarding copyright, licensing, fair use, and authors’ rights, as …

When Knowledge Breaks, Elizabeth Jardine

Publications and Research

Blog post describing the effect of the shift to distance learning due to COVID-19 in Spring 2020 on content and maintenance of LaGuardia Community College's Ask LaGuardia knowledge base.

It's About Time: Open Educational Resources And The Arts, Ian Mcdermott

Publications and Research

The price of textbooks and other learning materials hinder students’ ability to pursue higher education. Open educational resources (OER) provide one answer to this problem. Though well established in STEM disciplines, OER are less common in art history and other arts courses. The College Art Association (CAA) and the Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) hosted panels on OER at their 2019 annual conferences. This article summarizes those panels and analyzes the speakers’ experiences within the context of OER initiatives in higher education.

Implementing Information Literacy (Il) Into Stem Writing Courses: Effect Of Il Instruction On Students’ Writing Projects At An Urban Community College, Miseon Kim, Mercedes Franco, Dugwon Seo

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study was to implement information literacy (IL) into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) writing courses at an urban community college, investigate if students’ information literacy (IL) skills were improved through library one-shot instruction, and determine if there was an association between IL skills and students’ writing performance. Students in the experimental group attended the library instructional class and students in the control group had no library class. Students’ research papers were scored using the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) Information Literacy VALUE Rubric to grade the effectiveness of the library instruction (Association …

The Institutional Repository: A Place For Every Undergraduate Researcher’S Work, Monica Berger

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Out Of The Archives And Into The Streets: Teaching With Primary Sources To Cultivate Civic Engagement, Jen Hoyer

Publications and Research

This article examines whether teaching with primary sources can cultivate civic engagement by investigating the competencies involved in developing student civic engagement and aligning these with outcomes from teaching with primary sources. Using three examples from Brooklyn Connections, a primary source-based education outreach program that offers a free standards-based and curriculum-aligned school partnership program for grades four through twelve, this case study illustrates the potential for using primary sources to cultivate skills, knowledge, and student agency. Through assessment of these examples in teaching with primary sources using protocols developed for evaluation of programs that focus on developing civic engagement, the …

Collection Development At Two Armenian University Libraries: A Conversation With Librarians And Faculty, John Carey, D. Aram Donabedian, Arshak Balayan

Publications and Research

In the summer of 2016 two Hunter College librarians, working with a colleague in the Republic of Armenia, conducted an IRB-approved focus group at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan, Armenia. This group drew participants from the libraries and other academic departments of the American University of Armenia as well as Yerevan State University, a large public institution. The discussion attempted to ascertain whether these libraries have devised effective strategies to acquire materials and build collections in the face of the challenges they face (budgetary, linguistic, and sometimes political) and whether faculty at these institutions feel their library’s collection …

Supporting Institutional Objectives By Embedding Mission-Critical Competencies In Credit-Bearing Library Instruction: A Review And Case Study, Derek Stadler, Alexandra Rojas

Publications and Research

This article reviews scholarship of incorporating institutional objectives in academic courses and proposes a method to embed mission-critical competencies in a library instruction course. Few academic institutions focus their mission or core competencies on digital communication. LaGuardia Community College delineates three competencies in its mission: inquiry and problem solving, global learning, and integrative learning. Students exhibit command of these competencies in written, oral, or digital communication. The College defines the digital communication ability as successful collaboration and interaction using online tools, such as discussion boards, either to stage written exchange, or to capture video or oral discussions. Through participation in …

Exploring Innovative Ways To Incorporate The Association Of College And Research Libraries Framework In Graduate Science Teacher Education Eportfolio Projects, Alison Lehner-Quam, Wesley Pitts

Publications and Research

This article investigates ways in which student voice informed design research into information literacy instruction in a year-long graduate science education ePortfolio culminating project. Library and science education faculty partnered in a two-year project to create communities of secondary science education students, in two cohorts, who used the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to support their own research and reflections into information literacy. The overarching goal was to improve the course design to help science teachers develop their professional competencies in information literacy to conduct research to support their practice. Examination of students’ responses to research experiences …