Yearly Archives: 2021

In a lineage of friends: What Asian Humanities gives to critical librarianship

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By Brinna Pam Anan, Metadata Management Librarian and Collection Development Coordinator
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
and
Sarah D. Calhoun, Reference & Instruction Librarian for Humanities & Digital Scholarship
Carleton College

Abstract

We, as academic librarians, have chosen to practice interdisciplinary collaboration in our work in service of introducing more outside perspectives into the field of librarianship. From Asian Humanities, we learned about the concepts of kalyāṇa-mittatā, an active practice of auspicious friendship, and paramparā, an active transmission of knowledge through a lineage. While working at very different institutions, we have found these two concepts useful in guiding our understanding of colonialist, predominantly white hostile systems within area studies and area studies librarianship; academia; and libraries writ large. Using our own background in Asian Humanities, informed by the work of scholars of critical librarianship and Relational-Cultural Theory, we offer another parallel solution: We seek to establish academic friendships that are mutually beneficial and based on an ethic of care, while also thinking critically about our specific place within the trajectory of librarianship. Continue reading In a lineage of friends: What Asian Humanities gives to critical librarianship →

Ordinary Beauty: An Unashamed Manifesto for LibGuides

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By Michael Kicey
University at Buffalo (SUNY) Libraries

LibGuides? Really?

I’ll admit it upfront: in our present moment, LibGuides are nothing new or revolutionary. Especially in the last decade, LibGuides have gone from being the latest shiny object to an established tool among academic librarians for the organization and presentation of library resources. Nearly everyone thinks about their guides, or even worries about them; spends time creating and maintaining them; expends energy pushing them out to their various audiences; and nearly everyone grumbles about them – about the cost of the licensing, the learning curve for the software itself, the limitations of available design options, or the difficulty of creating a guide that the target audience of patrons takes up as their own, explores independently, and uses consistently. Most of us necessarily view the creation of clear and effective guides as a vital part of the work we do, and yet most of us would also admit that the chief users of the public-facing guides we create, despite our best efforts, are typically other librarians. Having faced pressure on many occasions to create or revise guides quickly, we tend to continue doing so even when we might have leisure to go about the job with more circumspection. Having encountered countless guides created by other librarians that mostly follow the same design script, we tend to reproduce that same script, whether from the need to save time and energy, the need to make the guide itself comprehensible according to accepted conventions and expectations, or from sheer lack of imagination. In other words: having performed a task ourselves, or seen others perform it, in the same way over and over again, we imagine that the way it’s always been done is the only way to do it.

Continue reading Ordinary Beauty: An Unashamed Manifesto for LibGuides →

Yours, Mine, Ours: Some Best Practices for Authors Writing Collaboratively

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By Rachel A. Knapp, Applied Sciences Librarian, University of Colorado Boulder,
Paulina Borrego, Science & Engineering Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Thea Atwood, Data Services Librarian, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Introduction

The authors of this article focus on the best practices we learned through our experiences in scholarly writing, with a specific focus on the collaborative writing process. For the sake of this paper, we define collaborative writing as a collective process of creating a scholarly work for distribution, either through formal (e.g., peer-review) or informal (e.g., white paper) venues. This article is, in part, in response to our lack of formal training and addresses a situation in which we felt other researchers might find themselves. We hope to provide starting points for others interested in writing collaboratively and help empower those wishing to have a broader conversation about writing. Our scope here is limited to collaborative writing, and as such, we exclude other components of collaborative scholarly work, such as generating an idea, pursuing a grant, or analyzing data. Nevertheless, we do endeavor to provide resources and advice broadly applicable and relevant to all disciplines.

Continue reading Yours, Mine, Ours: Some Best Practices for Authors Writing Collaboratively →

The Five College Hub: Connecting Libraries Across Campuses 

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By Jean Janecki, Mount Holyoke College
Paulina Borrego, University of Massachusetts- Amherst
C.M. Flynn, Smith College

Five College Library Consortium – An Unlikely Cast of Characters

The Five College Libraries Professional Development Committee (FCLPD) comprises one member from each of the Five College Consortium’s libraries located in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. This is just one of several Five College Library Committees formed to address, advance, and consolidate efforts around common issues to all its members. This article focuses on the successful role of the Professional Development Committee as it fosters and supports conversations and collaborations across campuses. Learn about the Five College Consortium, its library connections, and how this committee coordinates, promotes, and engages its library staff in professional development opportunities.

Continue reading The Five College Hub: Connecting Libraries Across Campuses  →

Student Educators as Facilitators of Learning: A Model for Peer Education in Academic Library Instruction

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

By Jonathan Cornforth, Reference and Instruction Librarian
and
Sarah Parramore, Reference and Instruction Librarian
Pollak Library
California State University, Fullerton

Peer-to-peer support has become a cornerstone of learning across various levels and areas of education. Its impact can be felt in many settings; not least of which is an academic library. There has been no lack of experimentation and successful implementation of peer education and related learning models within such spaces. Over time, libraries have helped innovate such forms of learning as they target specific courses and students.

In this vein, library instruction practices are amenable to adaptation. Instructors and various other stakeholders continue to seek out and implement new ways of delivering content which incorporates authentic approaches and pedagogies suited to today’s learner. This includes such innovations as High Impact Practices and other experiential approaches designed to engage students within the context of peer education. Library instruction has been and will continue to advance peer-to-peer engagement practices within various classroom settings.

Continue reading Student Educators as Facilitators of Learning: A Model for Peer Education in Academic Library Instruction →