Toward a Pedagogical Model of Academic Library Makerspaces as Digital Scholarship

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , , , ,

Heejoung Shin
Clinical Assistant Professor and Digital Scholarship Librarian
Digital Scholarship Hub, University of Illinois Chicago

Abstract

This article attempts to bring academic library makerspaces into conversation with digital scholarship by attending to their shared methods and methodologies: focus on process and labor, iterative making through the mediation of digital technology, interdisciplinary collaboration, and reflective pedagogy and practice. The relationship between academic library makerspaces and digital scholarship has been underexplored, with fabrication activities placed as adjacent to, rather than constitutive of, digital scholarship or treated as separate from discussions of the field, digital scholarship. Using the Digital Fabrication Lab at the University of Illinois Chicago Library, situated in an R1 research university, as a case study, the article aims to demonstrate how makerspaces can operate as indispensable components in library-led digital scholarship when its operations are structured through equity-centered program design and reflective and critical pedagogy and practice. The article first outlines a brief history of the DFL, followed by a review of relevant literature on the relationship between makerspaces and digital scholarship. It then traces the DFL’s strategic evolution, including the development of its governing philosophy, and presents three examples that illustrate digital scholarship in practice in the academic library makerspace. Although grounded in the context of an academic library, the pedagogical model proposed here may also offer useful implications for school and public library makerspaces, particularly because curiosity and habits of inquiry that underpin research often begin well before learners enter higher education.

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Voice is Not a Metaphor: Considering Teaching Voice as Sound Rather than Identity

Peer-Reviewed Article, ,

Nadia Orozco-Sahi, MLIS
Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico

Introduction

I hadn’t entered librarianship to be a teacher. But as I sat in my first research clinic at the University of New Mexico, and then my next, and then my next, observing my fellow librarians guide undergraduate students through the research process, it was clear that I was going to be one, whether I had intended to be or not. I was going to walk into a classroom and be an instructor. I was also going to be visibly brown and obviously queer. My teaching identity was going to be partially prescribed before I even spoke, just by virtue of body politics and positioning – my physical presentation, at a podium, in front of the class. Before I even spoke. And then?

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Community is the Curriculum

Essay, , ,

Janice Grover
Carol J. McMurry Distinguished Librarian for Academic Excellence
University of Wyoming Libraries

At the University of Wyoming, the Zine Collective meets in the basement of the Honors College, a large old house on the edge of campus. Over time, the basement has become our space. Three round tables are pushed together and covered with glue sticks, scissors, old magazines, scraps of paper, and half-finished zines. The Honors Library interns usually get there first to spread everything out while people wander in carrying backpacks, water bottles, and random ephemera they found somewhere and wanted to share. I usually walk in carrying dinner, either local takeout, or the cheapest pizza we can afford depending on how many people are expected to show.

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Academic Libraries for Bookstore Lovers; or Why Five Browsing Collections Isn’t Really Overkill

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

Michael Kirby
Julia Furay
Robert J. Kibbee Library
Kingsborough Community College
The City University of New York

Abstract

Given the existing research on reading for pleasure and its benefits, many academic libraries have begun to bolster their offerings by purchasing leisure materials for students. At CUNY Kingsborough Community College Library, we have created five separate browsing collections, each focusing on a particular subcategory: LGBTQ, juvenile, Holocaust, new books, and general leisure. What may sound like overkill is actually a targeted endeavor to make our collection more accessible to our users while minimizing shelving confusion for circulation staff. Equally important is highlighting diverse perspectives in a national environment that is increasingly hostile towards minority groups and intellectual freedom. If students are unable to locate materials that challenge overtly politicized narratives, how can we expect them to be well-informed? This article will include a discussion of browsing behavior in academic libraries and the pitfalls and benefits of creating these leisure collections.

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From the Middle School Classroom to Academic University Libraries

Essay, ,

Daniel E. Feinberg, MLIS, M.Ed
Online Learning Librarian
University of North Florida
d.feinberg@unf.edu

For those who go to university and are told to try to choose a major at 18 years old, they all make decisions that affect their future career paths. Some people are unsure if their initial chosen major is the right choice, or even if it is feasible. Depending on the major, many students will choose a major in a timely manner so they can graduate in four years. I remember thinking that I would become a CDC biologist/chemist or a Broadway actor. However, the real question became what I am going to do with the rest of my life. Recalling my parents’ advice, “choose a major in which you are going to come out of college with a job” truly meant nothing to me because I did not know what they really meant by saying a job, rather than saying a career. What is the similarity or the difference here? What my father did was become a teacher, and then he became a lawyer while he taught. My mother wanted to be a librarian in the 1960s. However, her parents felt it would be better if she worked as a teacher. And so, when I went to university, I bounced around from major to major not knowing what I was doing; I was aimlessly hoping that I would fall into a discipline that would somehow land me into a career.
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