Embedded in Technology Ecosystems: Graduate Students, Mobile Devices, and Academic Workflows

This qualitative study uncovers how graduate students use multiple devices to support their academic pursuits, including coursework, group projects, and conducting research. Students often own several devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers and use these devices in complementary ways to manage workflows, collaborate with colleagues, and support their academic pursuits

Counter Culture: A Brief Oral/Visual History of Independent Record Shops

Independent record shops have long been focal points of local music communities. As online music becomes the new normal, the role of these shops is changing. Though many shops have disappeared, others continue to flourish as they have evolved to meet the tastes and demands of collectors, crate diggers, producers, and fans who prefer LPs to MP3s. Drawing on original ethnographic research conducted in the early 2000s in the US and the UK, this presentation discusses the role and significance of independent record shops in various music scenes. Based on interviews with owners, staff, and customers, this talk is a snapshot of indie record shop culture at a pivotal time in music history, when digital formats began emerging and the state of music retail was in flux

Anecdotes, Barriers, Cooperation: The ABC\u27s of a Library/IT Collaboration

Aim Our library’s three main computing areas are the primary computer labs on campus, with two of them managed by librarians. Our staff mediated sign-in system made for long lines, delays, and more than a few misplaced student ID cards. After several semesters of monitoring issues and securing funding, the library implemented a new sign-in system for computers in the library’s labs. This presentation discusses the types of evidence we collected and used over several stages of this transition to launch and continually improve the self sign-in process. Methods After selecting and deploying the new self sign-in software, library staff at computer labs collected evidence to help improve the process: logging student complaints and comments, observing traffic at sign-in stations, inviting IT staff to troubleshoot on the spot during busy times, collecting articles from student-run campus newspapers, surveying students, and using our own gut instincts to make decisions for quick fixes. Results By collecting data and documenting issues immediately, librarians and staff in the labs promptly engaged IT staff in ongoing monitoring and identification of problems during the first semester rollout. By being nimble in using evidence for making changes we could handle without IT intervention, the self-sign-in process became more efficient. For more complex issues, we used our evidence for communication with IT staff for resolution. The improvements we made in time for the beginning of the second semester of the roll out were met with approval from students and staff. Discussion/Conclusion By collecting several types of evidence, the librarians and staff were able to better communicate issues to IT staff for identification and resolution. Some decisions could be made quickly, but others required ongoing collection of evidence. By involving IT staff in our evidence collection, we developed a better understanding of how to communicate between our two departments in weekly meetings and in the moment in order to make the computer labs more efficient for students. As a result of this experience, we developed an online reporting form and established a triage hierarchy for reporting critical computer lab issues

Only Connect: Graduate Students, Mobile Devices, and Academic Workflows

Students often own multiple devices, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets, and work within these personal device ecosystems for academic purposes. This qualitative study explores the research question: how are graduate students using mobile technologies in their academic practices? Rather than simply counting how many devices a student uses, we delve into how they use the devices and how their workflow for completing academic tasks emerged and is adapted throughout the course of their studies. We selected graduate students, as this group is underrepresented in the literature and their responsibilities for employment and family life are often different than those of undergraduates

A Promising Partnership: An Undergraduate Intern and Librarian Collaborate on Research Guides and Collection Development

Though library science internships for undergraduates are not as well documented as those for MLIS students, internships for undergraduates can be impactful for both the intern and the library. Undergraduate students have firsthand, immersive experience with their major curriculum, and this expertise can benefit science librarians making collection development decisions and creating content for research guides. This article discusses two such projects undertaken by an undergraduate mathematics major as part of a science librarianship internship

“Don’t Make Me Feel Dumb”: Transfer Students, the Library, and Acclimating to a New Campus

Objective – This qualitative study sought to delineate and understand the role of the library in addressing the barriers transfer students experience upon acclimating to their new campus. Methods – A screening survey was used to recruit transfer students in their first semester at Brooklyn College (BC) to participate in focus groups. The participants discussed the issues they encountered by answering open-ended questions about their experiences on campus, and with the library specifically. Results – Transfer students desired current information about campus procedures, services, and academic support. They often had to find this information on their own, wasting valuable time. Students felt confused and stressed by this process; however, strategic library involvement can help alleviate this stress. Conclusion – Involving the library more fully in orientations could ease students’ confusion in their transitional semester. Students desired local knowledge, and the library is in a key position to disseminate this information