Deaf in Her Own Way: The Role of Identity in Social Justice Leadership

The following fieldwork chronicles the personal and professional trajectory of Cindy Greenspun, a social justice leader at Yale University Library. At the age of eighteen months, Greenspun suffered an illness that resulted in the loss of her hearing and spent nearly the first half of her life fully immersed in the hearing world. Through significant self-reflection and perseverance, Greenspun evolved beyond the binary paradigm of oralism–the exclusive use of speech and lip reading–to ultimately embrace the essence of being both bilingual (speech and sign) and bicultural (hearing and non-hearing). These attributes not only enabled Greenspun to navigate between two distinctly disparate cultures, they also became effective tools for raising social awareness within her own family and professional life. While there is much work to be done in bridging the worlds between the deaf and the hearing, through her own exploration of self-identity, Greenspun has become deaf in her own way. As such, she serves as a catalyst at Yale in championing accessibility and equity initiatives for people with disabilities of all types

Toward a Transdisciplinary Model of Social Justice in Academic Librarianship: Promoting Critical Awareness within Advocates and Privileged Allies

Academic libraries are largely comprised of White, middle-aged females, and as part of the overall diversity crisis within higher education, grapple with issues of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ableism. This mixed-methods study uses an original theoretical framework of critical transcendence, based on the philosophies of Carl Jung and Paulo Freire, to examine what triggers and/or preconditions lead some academic librarians to reflect upon and interrogate their worldview to become actively engaged as advocates and social justice allies (SJAs). An online survey was conducted that obtained data from a sample of 113 academic librarians regarding their interest and commitment toward advocating for social justice and found a significant positive correlation between social justice interest and social justice commitment. Qualitative and mixed analysis included a thematic review of several open-ended questions (OeQs) as well as interviews with six academic librarians who self-identified as SJAs in the quantitative phase. Collective themes emerging from the narratives indicated librarians believed it was a culmination of environment, education, and experience that led them to become SJAs. Strategies they found most impactful were directly engaging with marginalized and underrepresented groups, creating external pathways to success for students and staff, and forming alliances with like-minded allies. When applicable, narrative results were dovetailed with the OeQs to gain a holistic understanding of why academic librarians choose to advocate for social justice. Thus, by examining multiple aspects of the phenomenon, my work provides greater insight as to the motivational factors for social justice advocates and allies within academic libraries and beyond

JETstream Volume 3 Issues 1

It was the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus that once said: the only thing that is constant is change.” Over the last several years, we have certainly witnessed many exciting changes here at Molloy and the library is no exception. At the JET Library we are constantly evolving and transforming to best provide the Molloy community with premium resources, high-level services and accommodating spaces. Although the library lost a stack room this past summer with recent campus renovations, we did gain some space when we repurposed one of our stack rooms into a much needed and highly requested by students, Quiet Study Area. This past year we also welcomed our first Access Services Librarian, David Nochimson, per diem librarians Leslie Wong Look and Debra Bernstein and a new per diem staff member, Iain Mawhinney. Among other library news, included in this issue you will learn about several new electronic resources added to the collection, as well as innovative systems to help make your visit more time-efficient. Our students have been very excited and appreciative of the addition of test prep books and textbooks to our collection for both their convenience and cost savings. Need to use a laptop but you left yours at home? No worries, the library now offers laptop lending. In being consistent with change, this year also marks the end of Bob Martin’s career at the JET Library as he embarks on a new chapter of his life as a retiree. Although Bob will certainly be missed at the JET Library and by so many at Molloy College, we are forever grateful for his valuable contributions to Molloy and the JET Library. As always, we welcome you to stop by the library to check out our new resources, perhaps read one of the books from our collection reviewed in this issue or to stop by and say hello to our new JET Library members

JETstream Volume 5

And just like that, spring has finally arrived and with that, the end of the spring 2023 semester! But before transitioning into summer mode and hopefully some well-deserved time off, the JET Library would like to fill you in on some of the things we have been up to; welcoming Molloy’s Archives & Special Collections to JET, several new resources including the First-Generation LibGuide, Medical and Nursing Journal Collection and other resources specifically aimed to help improve accessibility and access for anyone entering the library. This past year, the JET Library and its cross-functional partners within Learning Services, the Writing Center, and Tutoring Services were sincerely honored to receive this year’s Molloy Team Award! We would also like to congratulate the winners of all the other categories. The JET library also welcomed several new members to our team in addition to one returning member who you will get to know a bit better in this issue. So as we prepare for the last few weeks of the semester, we would like to wish all of our students the best on their upcoming finals and to the entire Molloy University community, a safe and enjoyable summer

JETstream Volume 1 Issue 2

The JET Library kicked off 2017 with an always well-received event, our annual “Beat the Blahs” Party, sponsored by the Office of the President. This year, we featured a dessert table where members of the Molloy Community brought in their favorite desserts to share with everyone. We also held our first JET Bake-off, with Karen Cusumano, Executive Assistant in the President’s Office, being awarded a “Certificate in Excellence in Baking” with her “Classic Sour Cream Cheese Cake.” Requests have been received by the library asking if she will share her recipe! Although we definitely did enjoy a delicious feast, I think the consensus is unanimous when I say that the best part of the event was being able to spend time with everyone, engaging in good conversation, laughter and blintzes. In 2016, we welcomed several new members to the library; Tabitha Ochtera, Shikha Joseph and Sean Williams whom we look forward to you getting to know in our “Welcoming our New Additions” section. Theresa Rienzo, Associate Librarian Health Sciences and Head of Patron Services, an integral member of the JET Library is featured in our “Spotlight” article. A new column titled “What we are reading” was added, where our librarians and staff share their opinions on books from our collection. Among the various other articles, we would like to bring special attention to the “Did you know?” article where you can learn more about a new resource recently activated in the Ovid database, as well as SWANK, one of JET Library’s streaming video databases. Last but certainly not least, meet JET Library’s Official Mascot, Luciano

JETstream Volume 2 Issue 1

Although summer tends to be when we might experience a bit of a respite on campus, that was certainly not the case here at the JET Library. The library underwent some significant renovations to two of our instruction rooms, Educational Resource Center, and the Suffolk Extension Center Library. We also acquired several new products and technologies such as the DigitalCommons and BrowZine, which you may read about further in this issue of JETstream. At the start of the semester, we continued our annual tradition of hosting the JET Library Pizza Party to welcome the incoming freshmen, as well as our returning students where a great time was had by all! During the course of the semester, many of our students participate in a scavenger hunt. This is one of the tasks as part of their FST class, where students get to familiarize themselves with different areas and services of the library, while having fun bonding with their classmates

JETstream Volume 4 Issue 1

The arrival of spring generally brings to mind thoughts and images of new beginnings, op-timism and a sense of resili-ence after a long winter’s sea-son. This current issue of JETstream seems to reflect similar sentiments. Although the JET Library continued to seamlessly provide its services to the Molloy Community throughout the pandemic, be-ing able to interact and en-gage with our students in per-son has been beyond com-pare! One of our most exciting new ventures has been the intro-duction of the Learning Com-mons into the JET Library as part of a pilot program. As ex-plained by Courtney Dalfanso, Writing Center Director, “the Learning Commons is for those who want to work on their studies in a space where peer and professional tutors standby ready to help. Stu-dents will be immersed in an open learning area within the JET Library and afforded ac-cess to materials, profession-als, information, and peers in a space that enhances their academic experience at the college.” The JET Library’s Head of Reference, Nikki Pa-lumbo adds, “We are very ex-cited to be able to work more closely with our colleagues to offer integrated tutoring, re-search, and writing help in one convenient location.” On another note, although we had to bid farewell to two of our amazing staff members, Ellen King and Joyce Vaaler, as they embarked on their re-spective journeys as new retir-ees, we are so pleased to wel-come several new members to the JET team who you will get to know about in this issue. Wishing you all a successful Finals Week and a safe, restful and enjoyable summer