Tag Archives: writing

On Cataloging and Life

Essay, ,

Sarah Theimer
Description and Discovery Strategy Librarian
University of New Hampshire

Introduction

Essay writing is a well established method of reflection and understanding. Library workers often do not have time to process the meaning that surrounds their work. The rush to get work done and on to the next thing, competing demands, and outside commitments all compete for attention and energy. These essays use writing as method for understanding professional practice. They record thoughts about cataloging and discovery work. They enable meaning to emerge through details and reflection. The essays do not tell people how to catalog or how they should feel about cataloging. They provide a way of recognizing how meaning is generated in library work through attention to systems, constraints, and decision-making.

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Libraries as Places Where Stories Begin: Building A Writer-in-Residence Program at UBC Library

Essay, , , , ,

By Allan Cho
Community Engagement & Partnerships Librarian
University of British Columbia Library

Introduction

The mission of academic libraries has been to steward literary archives, preserving the manuscripts, correspondence, and records that underpin scholarly research. Yet they have been less visible as spaces where literature is actively created. In this essay, I explore how the University of British Columbia (UBC) Library’s Writer-in-Residence program reimagines the academic library as a collaborative space where community engagement, literary practice, and research intersect. By embedding practicing writers on campus and in the broader community, the program supports emerging voices and positions the library not only as a repository of cultural memory but also as an active site of literary creation.

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Asking Good Questions: A Collaborative Academic Support System for Research-Based Writing in the Health Sciences

Essay, , , , , , , , ,

by Karen Harag
Health Sciences and Human Services Librarian
Cushwa-Leighton Library
Saint Mary’s College

and

Jennifer Juszkiewicz
Director, Writing & Tutoring Center and Writing Proficiency Program
English Department
Saint Mary’s College

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to trace an evolving, responsive, and integrated approach to developing the research and writing skills of nursing students. Our central and likely unsurprising claim is that an integrated approach to supporting students’ composing processes is most effective when all contributors have a clear sense of their spheres of responsibility and maintain open lines of communication.

Within this broad idealization, we advocate for reframing the pedagogical environment for nursing students’ research-based writing as an allyship within and outside health sciences disciplines. Contributors should include research librarians, writing specialists, disciplinary faculty, and the student writers (Luthy et al., 2006). Such an allyship facilitates a student-led approach. This can be helpful for more advanced nursing students in bachelor’s programs and those in graduate programs, even though students may be reluctant, especially if they lack confidence or experience in writing at an advanced level in their discipline. However, creating an integrated network of support enables the students to learn and then design an individualized process that will better prepare them for evidence-based practice (EBP) and disciplinary knowledge-making.
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Yours, Mine, Ours: Some Best Practices for Authors Writing Collaboratively

Peer-Reviewed Article, , ,

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.

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