Yearly Archives: 2025

The Dread of the Research Publication Tenure-Track Requirement

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , ,

By Nicole Troutman
Assistant Professor/Research and Instruction Librarian
Brown-Daniel Library
Tennessee State University

Introduction

I was thrilled upon being offered my first academic librarian position. It was going to pay twice the income I had made at the public library, and it would be in my discipline. In addition to that, it was a tenure-track position. This was particularly exciting as one thing that was repeated multiple times by my Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) professors was that being tenured as an academic librarian was possible, but not likely, unless you had other advanced degrees in addition to the MLIS. The dean of the library informed me that this would require doing research and writing publishable articles and asked if that would be an issue for me. I assured her that it would not because I love to write and had done countless research papers during my college career.

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Enhancing Student Agency and Self-Efficacy Using ADDIE’S Evaluate Phase for a LIS 1001 Course Refresh

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , , , , ,

By Sarah Moukhliss, Ed.D., MLS
STEM Online Learning Librarian & CIRT/OER Liaison
Thomas G. Carpenter Library
University of North Florida

Abstract

This article outlines the initial development and iterative changes made by Online Learning Librarian Moukhliss during the course refresh of a one-credit-hour online undergraduate library research course. Specifically, it focuses on the Evaluate phase of the ADDIE instructional design process (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate). Based on student feedback, Moukhliss incorporated greater voice and choice into the final research assignment.

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Community-Centric Sponsorship and Budgeting: Financially Planning the Louisiana Digital Library Fest

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , , , , ,

By Leah Duncan,
Digital Humanities Librarian
Davidson College

Elisa Naquin
Metadata and Digital Strategies Librarian
Louisiana State University

Abstract

When libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations facilitate community-centered programming, their funding and budgeting models should be intentionally aligned with inclusive and relational values. The Louisiana Digital Library (LDL) is a statewide platform for sharing Louisiana’s digital cultural heritage, and over thirty institutions contribute collections to the LDL. Funding from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) allowed a project team at Louisiana State University to host the inaugural LDL Fest, a three-day event that brought together a community of digital library administrators and users. In addition to the LEH grant, the project team sought additional contributions from within the LDL community while forgoing corporate sponsorship. By sacrificing a potential source of funding, the project team ensured that people who build and use the LDL would be centered in every aspect of the three-day LDL Fest; that commitment also guided the team’s allocation of funds. By insisting that the LDL’s community-centric values direct the LDL Fest’s sponsorship model and budgeting priorities, the project team ensured that the flow of money honored, rather than distracted from, the community that the LDL serves.

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In “Heinsight”: Breaking Ground on Advocacy for Academic Library Database Trials Using HeinOnline

Peer-Reviewed Article, , ,

by Joe Lee
Reference Library Services Specialist
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
JLee75@umbc.edu

Jasmine Shumaker, MLIS
Reference & Instruction Librarian
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
jshumake@umbc.edu

Abstract

HeinOnline is a legal research database much like NexisUni or Westlaw. HeinOnline is a commercial legal research database used for searching case law, law review articles, proceedings, government documents and more. The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery (AOK), which is the heart of the research campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), which, at the time of writing this piece, subscribed to 446 databases, only one of which covered legal research. Though not a law library, AOK had been formerly using NexisUni from July 2017 to June 2023. The two authors, a faculty librarian and a library services specialist–decided to address this deficit by closely documenting the onboarding process of HeinOnline from trial to acquisition. At their institution, there has been little to no documentation recorded that outlined the necessary steps and checkpoints needed for a database trial. The Reference team noted that the previous database, NexisUni, was not only costly (especially at a university without a law program), but that the user interface and search functions could be improved. The authors recognized that, by closely documenting the process of offering a new database and measuring faculty and student engagement, they could establish the groundwork for standardizing database trials as well as provide insights for other librarians as they consider evaluating or adding new databases.
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Musical Maps of the World in the 21st Century: Leveraging Librarian Expertise in the Development of Visualization Tools for Music Research and Pedagogy

Peer-Reviewed Article, , ,

by M. Nathalie Hristov, MLIS
Professor and Music Librarian
University of Tennessee

Kathryn A. Linton
Music Librarian for Instruction and Outreach
Vanderbilt University

Joshua Ortiz Baco
Assistant Professor and Digital Scholarship Librarian
University of Tennessee

1. Impetus for the Development of Emerging Digital Tools and Technology for Musicological Research and Pedagogy

Currently, traditional scholarly resources enable musicologists to trace the origins of numerous musical systems, styles, and instruments through the painstaking process of wading through physical volumes from several world regions to find commonalities. While there has been a significant rise in the digitization of music archives, the content represents only a small fraction of the vast collections of historical documents related to music in libraries across the globe.[1] Furthermore, digital collections in music are stored differently among thousands of libraries with their own unique set of finding aids and organizational structure. Considering the limited amount and fragmented nature of digitized historical documents in music, the time-intensive process of extracting content from multiple sources poses challenges for researchers looking for connections between musicians and musical ideas. Thus, major discoveries in musicological research are few and far between when compared to those in other disciplines. In a variety of ways, music scholarship has lagged in terms of digitized resources and technological innovations. [2] Nevertheless, music scholars and digital humanists in the last couple of decades have begun exploring methods for moving musical research forward into the technological era with greater global access and emerging technologies.[3]
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