Archival Science Commons^™

Recognizing Problematic Journals, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Cabells and Third Iron have collaborated to bring Cabells’ awareness of problematic journals and websites to LibKey! Using Cabells’ data, LibKey will now highlight when an article or website domain is associated with a journal or URL labeled as predatory in Cabells’ Journalytics data.

Cinahl And Ebsco Products New Look, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The new CINAHL Platform is now available!

The CINAHL database is now on a new platform! The next time you log in, you’ll see a redesigned interface that improves navigation and search features.

Need help searching? Reach out to a librarian at askus.library.tmc.edu, we're happy to assist!

Restoring School Librarians: Challenges And Strategies, Debrah E. Kachel

Learning Hub

The article examines efforts to restore school librarian positions across eleven urban U.S. school districts, despite significant financial and administrative obstacles. It documents strategies used by district library leaders to advocate for staffing, funding, and policy changes, emphasizing equity in access to certified school librarians. Through structured interviews and analysis, the report highlights key barriers, advocacy methods, and funding mechanisms that have influenced school library staffing. The study's findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on educational equity and policy reform in K-12 library services.

Depositing Your Works In The Unl Digital Commons: Advice For Self-Depositors

Institutional Repository Information

You have found the UNL DigitalCommons, the university’s institutional repository, and you would like to include some, or some additional, articles or other works in it. If you are not an affiliate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln or a participant in one of its educational, service, or research programs, then we probably cannot help you. This repository is intended for archiving the scholarly output of the UNL community.

Following is some advice for UNL faculty, staff, students, and associates on the procedures for putting your work online in our publicly accessible UNL DigitalCommons web space, which is search-engine enabled …

History Of Medicine Lectures, Katie Prentice

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The Spring 2025 History of Medicine Series is sponsored by the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics - UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School and the TMC Library. All are invited. All sessions are held from 12-1pm at TMC Library Classroom 1.

Bmj Case Reports, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The TMC Library subscription to BMJ Case Reports provides a fellowship benefit that allows affiliated authors to publish in BMJ Case Reports at no cost, once the author submission is approved by the BMJ editorial team.

Check the Scholarly Publishing Support LibGuide for information on other publishers.

Lab Protocols And Experiments To Reduce Your Research Time, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Lab Protocols and Experiments to Reduce your Research Time!

Find your favorite protocol or experiment using a keyword search in our library catalog, or by entering the database name into our A to Z list of databases.

Appraising Records, Maureen Cresci Callahan, David Staniunas

Published Works

This chapter operationalizes archival appraisal as a values-driven, lifecycle activity that begins in pre-custodial conversations and continues through transfer, accessioning, stabilization, description, migration/reformatting, and, when warranted, deaccessioning. It reframes appraisal as both selection and retention, not merely separation, and offers guiding principles: assess long-term research value, preserve context, and acknowledge the rarity of true uniqueness. The authors translate strategy into practice through functional analysis and scaled prioritization (e.g., adaptations of the Minnesota Method), showing how to map organizational or personal functions to record types to widen evidentiary breadth. Practical tools include creator interviews, top-level surveys of born-digital environments, and structured …

Appraisal And Acquisition Strategies In Collecting Repositories, Maureen Cresci Callahan, David Staniunas

Published Works

This chapter explores the principles, values, and practices that shape intentional collecting and acquisitions work in archival repositories. The authors argue that acquisitions are a form of public service, requiring archivists to engage actively and responsibly with communities to diversify the historical record and counteract the biases of passive or unexamined collecting. Drawing on case studies from institutions such as Northeastern University, the Minnesota Historical Society, and the New York State Archives, the chapter outlines models and strategies for building trust with donors, navigating power dynamics, and aligning acquisitions with institutional mission and capacity. Topics include advisory boards, documentation strategy, …

Resilience And Reality: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of People Living With Hiv In Texas During The Covid-19 Pandemic – A Qualitative Study., Ahmed F. Alanazi

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

This study investigated the lived experiences of individuals living with HIV (PLWH) in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area of Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework. The research examined the intersection of health, social dynamics, and psychological resilience among PLWH, who faced compounded vulnerabilities due to systemic inequities and the dual public health crises of HIV and COVID-19. Through semi-structured interviews with ten participants from diverse backgrounds, the study captured the profound impacts of disrupted healthcare systems, heightened stigma, and social isolation on this marginalized population. The findings reveal that the pandemic exacerbated existing inequities …

Archives Collection: Toxic Love, Tara Sim

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Archivists and Special Collections Librarians, Tara Sims and Kelsey Koym, at the Texas Medical Center Library (McGovern Historical Center), have recently embarked on an investigation to identify, test, and quarantine some of its most intriguing—and potentially hazardous—items: beautiful, vibrant Victorian-era books bound in materials possibly dyed with heavy metals, such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.

Author Benefits From The Tmc Library, Joanne Romano

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

Learn more about Author Benefits from the TMC Library in our OpenAccess Publishing Support LibGuide. Use the QR code on this blog, or go to our LibGuides list on our website and select Open Access Publishing Support.

Journal Of Family Of Strengths Website Re-Designed!, Alice Sherwood

TMC Library Newsletter (2015-)

The Journal of Family Strengths (JFS), formerly Family Preservation Journal, is an open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed online journal produced by CHILDREN AT RISK in partnership with the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center – Prairie View A&M University and The TMC Library.

For additional information, visit the Library Blog

Complete Issue: Vol. 12, No. 2, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

No abstract provided.

Selection Of Spring And Fall 2024 Master’S Project Posters, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

Students are required to create academic research posters on their capstone research project and present them in class. The following selection of the Master’s Project Capstone Posters are from LIS 695 in the Spring 2024 and Fall 2024.

Interview With Cyndee Landrum: Usm Slis Graduate And Acting Director Imls, Gabriel Morley, E.D.

SLIS Connecting

Cyndee Landrum, a 2006 graduate of the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at The University of Southern Mississippi was named acting director of the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency charged with supporting and empowering the country’s libraries. Dr. Morley interviewed her history and her perception of the future.

Website Accessibility In Mississippi Public Libraries, Jennifer Vance, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

The Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, significantly increasing the disabled community’s access to public life. Since then, life has branched out into digital and physical spaces. With this shift came the need to integrate accessibility considerations into web design, in the same way an architect would consider accessibility when drawing up plans for a new building. However, while buildings are usually designed by professionals, websites are often not. Libraries are no exception, as many may not have dedicated staff to design and maintain a website. In cases where they do have dedicated staff, they may …

Library Services For Patrons Experiencing Homelessness: An Examination Of Three Urban Libraries, Jason Lefebvre, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

The need to consider the most equitable way to provide services to people experiencing homelessness must also be balanced by how these services will affect staff in their daily duties. What can realistically be expected from a staff member when dealing with more complex social service issues? At times, the staff is tasked with answering questions that may fall outside their education and training. It is necessary to establish which needs in the community can successfully be provided by someone with an educational or professional background relating primarily to the Library and Information Science field, and which are better facilitated …

Teen Programming On Virginia Public Library Websites, Melissa Howley, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

communities they serve. As such, teen programs offer an assorted range of experiences tailored to the interests and needs of the local teen population. The state of Virginia, with a diverse geographical landscape, presents a unique case study from which teen programming can be examined. This study examined teen programming in public libraries across six different public library regions, as recognized by the Virginia Library Association (VLA) (The Library of Virginia [LVA], n.d.). Exploring these regional variations revealed valuable insights into how public libraries effectively adapt teen services as well as how these services can be enhanced to empower teens …

Internet Archive Website: Pulp Fiction Mystery Collection Analysis, Ramona Elder, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

Detective magazines were a source of entertainment and fascination for the working-class readers of the early 20th century (Smith, 2000). Their illustrated covers drawn by pulp artists, such as Dalton Stevens and Jerome Rozen, were made to be attractive. Caronia (2019) tells how weekly periodicals continued to circulate as the rise of detective stories grew in popularity before the first detective magazines were printed and published. It was the American writer Edgar Allen Poe who is credited with having written the first detective story when he published The Murders of the Rue Morgue in Graham’s Magazine in April 1841 giving …

Lgbtq+ Content In The Ala Top Most Challenged Books, Kaelynn Edmondson, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

2,571 titles were challenged in 2022, double what was recorded in 2021, but it was noted that 45.5 percent of all those titles were LGBTQ+ books (Perfas, 2022). The rise in challenges and the fact that almost half the books contained LGBTQ+ topics indicates that, within recent years, there has been a shift in the type of content and the speed at which challenges are happening in the United States. Books like Obie is Enough by Schuyler Bailar are banned in states that do not allow books that discuss gender identity, and in turn, these books cannot reach the audiences …

Graphic Novel Censorship, Tiffany Buono, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

Graphic novels have been growing in popularity and demand since they were first introduced as a format in 1978 by Will Eisner with his publication of A Contract with God (“Will Eisner”, n.d.). Graphic novels (GN) are a format of writing and illustration that spans fiction and non-fiction genres with many classic works being adapted into the format to encourage more young adult engagement. Yet, many libraries nationwide, including school and public libraries, lack a strong graphic novel collection. The American Library Association (ALA) is a national authority on issues related to intellectual freedom including the increase of challenges and …

Historical Use Of Libraries In Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment In The United Kingdom, Jessica Buckey, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

In the 19th and 20th centuries, libraries were a common amenity in psychiatric hospitals, particularly private ones. This paper sheds new light on the history of these libraries in inpatient psychiatric treatment centers. The prevailing medical philosophy held that occupation and moderate intellectual stimulation were important for recovery, a mode of thought culminating in the 20th century bibliotherapy movement. This is not a clinical study, and it assumes no stance on the therapeutic value of reading. Instead, it is a historical study of libraries in inpatient psychiatric centers: how these libraries were curated; how patient libraries, throughout their history, responded …

Mental Health And Well-Being In Academic Libraries: A Bibliometric Survey Of Scholarly Publications, 1994-2024, Rebecca Arthur, Mlis

SLIS Connecting

Academic libraries are crucial pieces of the higher education system; national accreditation standards for colleges and universities require the existence of accessible library collections and knowledgeable, trained staff. Traditionally, the academic collections, both physical and digital, of these libraries have been their focal point, and the importance of the academic library on campus has been derived from its ability to provide instructional materials and support to students, faculty, and staff. However, the educational paradigm of academic librarianship has shifted as higher education has evolved throughout the twentieth century. Previously long-established pedagogies have become insufficient in the face of changing technologies …

From The Gas: Publications, Congratulations, And Presentations, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D., Teresa S. Welsh, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

Includes book reviews by the graduate assistants for Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd, Wild Dreamers, and The Blonde Dies First. Highlights what SLIS faculty are reading, alumni updates, faculty publications and presentations, and student congratulations.

Spotlights: Faculty, Alumni, Festival, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D., Mary A. Osborne, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

Meet Dr. Kaeli Gretter, alum Miranda Loper, and learn about the keynote speakers for the 2025 Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival.

Slis Director's Report, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

Welcome to the Spring/Fall issue of SLIS Connecting.

Book Review: Decentering Whiteness In Libraries: A Framework For Inclusive Collection Management, Andrea Jamison, Shala K. Howell

School of Information Student Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Redefining Reference Services In The 21st Century, Johanna Tunon

School of Information Student Research Journal

The role of reference services in libraries has evolved significantly in the 21st century, driven by technological advancements and changing user needs. This paper explores how reference services have transitioned from traditional, desk-centric interactions to encompass a wide array of platforms and tools, including digital innovations and generative AI. The decline in reference transactions has prompted librarians to adapt, shifting focus towards more complex consultations and instructional roles, while also navigating the blurred boundaries between reference assistance and formal instruction. The paper also examines the updated definitions and limitations of reference services by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), …

The Importance Of Graduate-Student-Led Academic Journals Within Library And Information Science, Odin Halvorson

School of Information Student Research Journal

Graduate-student-led academic journals play a crucial role in fostering early career researchers' engagement with scholarly discourse within the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). This paper highlights the significance of these journals by examining their contributions to professional development, peer review practices, and inclusivity. Through a case study of the Student Research Journal (SRJ) at San Jose State University’s iSchool, I demonstrate how student-led journals provide invaluable experiential learning opportunities in leadership, organization, and research skills. The SRJ exemplifies these benefits by achieving international recognition with minimal resources, showcasing its impact-to-cost ratio. This paper also discusses the journal's role …