We’re All In This Together. Using Systems Thinking and Data Visualization to Influence the Ordering Habits of Liaisons

Liaison work is a secondary role for most of the librarians at the William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University, and although each librarian takes this responsibility seriously, the task of ordering books is often one that gets put off throughout the busy Fall semester. Although the library\u27s approval plan keeps current materials across all subject areas coming in a relatively steady stream throughout the year, over 50% of our books still come in through title-by-title liaison selection. Liaison procrastination historically resulted in a deluge of book orders - often triggered by increasingly insistent reminders from the acquisitions and collection development team – at the end of the fiscal year. In FY2016, the Collection Development Librarian undertook an effort to use visual data related to historical and current ordering patterns to engage liaisons with selection activities throughout the entire academic year, with the hope of both evening out the number of books across disciplines that come in the library month-to-month, and to open up the annual March bottleneck caused in acquisitions, collection development, cataloging, and collection management by liaisons expending their funds at the last minute. Attendees engaging with this poster at the Library Assessment Conference learned about the tools used to educate and inform liaisons about the often invisible work that takes place after they place an order, the system of intermediate deadlines established and data-sharing with liaisons, and the results of this effort across three calendar years. They left with ideas about how to connect liaisons at their own institutions with the often invisible work of acquisitions through training, communication, and compelling data-sharing

Screaming into the Ether: Assessing E-Resources Outreach through Digital Touchpoints

What is the impact of social media, targeted email, and other intentional promotional efforts on e-resource usage? Is there a correlation between e-resources marketing and the use of those resources? What data can we gather, what can we learn, and how can this be used to improve our communications with faculty and outreach via social media and digital spaces?This presentation will explore the findings from the first year of a multi-year study on marketing e-resources at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Librarians at the William H. Hannon Library examined the usage of specific e-resources over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year, and overlaid the usage with a timeline of physical and digital promotions for the same e-resources within the communications cycle, including social media outreach, internal and external email marketing, library instruction, and LibGuides. The presenters will discuss their findings and provide step-by-step instructions for attendees who wish to replicate the process at their home institutions. The presenters will also offer timely recommendations for improving e-resources outreach based on their combined experiences as Collection Development and Outreach librarians, respectively

Bringing Underserved Staff Online @ LMU

One tangible benefit of working at a university is the number of opportunities for continuing education. At LMU, these resources abound for white-­‐collar, professional staff. But results from a 2010 survey initiated by the library and ITS indicated that the majority of respondents from LMU Facilities employees were unaware that library and technology workshops (which take place year-­round) were offered at all. Through grassroots efforts, Raymundo Andrade and Jamie Hazlitt opened the lines of communication with facilities administration, offered basic technology and English language training opportunities for service staff, and tangibly improved the technology skills and enriched the lives of staff members from LMU facilities department through a series of bilingual workshops

Choose Your Own Adventure : A Thrilling Journey of Collaborative Collection Assessment

In 2016, the speakers embarked upon a multi-institutional project to compare print and e-book usage across four Southern California institutions (Claremont Colleges Library, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, and University of Southern California). The preliminary results of this comparative usage analysis, presented as a poster session at the Charleston Conference, revealed that print books in certain art and architecture classes and subclasses are used over e-books, suggesting “leanings” in format preferences of users. While this collaborative research project provided provocative insights into art and architecture e-book usage, it also raised important research methods questions related to collaborative analysis using multiple library systems in areas like data extraction and normalization. Usage reports for electronic resources have seen a high degree of standardization following the development of the COUNTER Code of Practice, but no such standard exists for integrated library systems (ILS) reports. Individual librarians who are familiar with the idiosyncrasies of their own ILS reports may be able to overcome system-specific obstacles, but it becomes much more difficult to do so when librarians using different ILSs collaborate on a project combining these reports.At this lively lunch, four librarians from four different institutions will lead a discussion focusing on the complexities of the research process rather than the outcomes, and will engage attendees with the following questions:● Under what circumstances would a research project benefit from collaboration between institutions? When does collaboration hinder or complicate the research project?● What challenges and opportunities have attendees encountered when doing multi-institutional research?● What challenges do ILSs pose as data collection and extraction systems in collaborative assessment projects?● What solutions are needed to improve multi-institutional collaboration?Attendees will leave with a firm grasp of considerations that need to be addressed at the start of a collaborative multi-institutional, multi-ILS assessment project

Female-Biased Dispersal and Gene Flow in a Behaviorally Monogamous Mammal, the Large Treeshrew (Tupaia tana)

Background: Female-biased dispersal (FBD) is predicted to occur in monogamous species due to local resource competition among females, but evidence for this association in mammals is scarce. The predicted relationship between FBD and monogamy may also be too simplistic, given that many pair-living mammals exhibit substantial extra-pair paternity. Methodology/Principal Findings: I examined whether dispersal and gene flow are female-biased in the large treeshrew (Tupaia tana) in Borneo, a behaviorally monogamous species with a genetic mating system characterized by high rates (50%) of extra-pair paternity. Genetic analyses provided evidence of FBD in this species. As predicted for FBD, I found lower mean values for the corrected assignment index for adult females than for males using seven microsatellite loci, indicating that female individuals were more likely to be immigrants. Adult female pairs were also less related than adult male pairs. Furthermore, comparison of Bayesian coalescent-based estimates of migration rates using maternally and bi-parentally inherited genetic markers suggested that gene flow is female-biased in T. tana. The effective number of migrants between populations estimated from mitochondrial DNA sequence was three times higher than the number estimated using autosomal microsatellites. Conclusions/Significance: These results provide the first evidence of FBD in a behaviorally monogamous species without mating fidelity. I argue that competition among females for feeding territories creates a sexual asymmetry in the costs an

Genomic comparisons reveal biogeographic and anthropogenic impacts in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus): a dietary-specialist species distributed across heterogeneous environments

The Australian koala is an iconic marsupial with highly specific dietary requirements distributed across heterogeneous environments, over a large geographic range. The distribution and genetic structure of koala populations has been heavily influenced by human actions, specifically habitat modification, hunting and translocation of koalas. There is currently limited information on population diversity and gene flow at a species-wide scale, or with consideration to the potential impacts of local adaptation. Using species-wide sampling across heterogeneous environments, and high-density genome-wide markers (SNPs and PAVs), we show that most koala populations display levels of diversity comparable to other outbred species, except for those populations impacted by population reductions. Genetic clustering analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction reveals a lack of support for current taxonomic classification of three koala subspecies, with only a single evolutionary significant unit supported. Furthermore, similar to 70% of genetic variance is accounted for at the individual level. The Sydney Basin region is highlighted as a unique reservoir of genetic diversity, having higher diversity levels (i.e., Blue Mountains region; AvHe(corr)-0.20, PL% = 68.6). Broad-scale population differentiation is primarily driven by an isolation by distance genetic structure model (49% of genetic variance), with clinal local adaptation corresponding to habitat bioregions. Signatures of selection were detected between bioregions, with no single region returning evidence of strong selection. The results of this study show that although the koala is widely considered to be a dietary-specialist species, this apparent specialisation has not limited the koala's ability to maintain gene flow and adapt across divergent environments as long as the required food source is available

“God is Hidden in the Earthly Kingdom:” The Lutheran Two-Kingdoms Theory as Foundation of Scandavanian Secularity

Martin Luther’s signature “two kingdoms” teaching of the sixteenth century was an early and innovative theory of secularization that lies at the heart of historical Scandinavian culture. Defying the organic medieval models of Western Christendom, Luther separated the heavenly and earthly kingdoms, the saint and the sinner, faith and reason, church and the state, Gospel and the Law, as well as the spiritual and secular uses of law, government and authority. Though God is separated from day-to-day life, Luther wrote, God is still hidden in the earthly kingdom” and can be seen through various “masks,” “mists,” and “mimes.” Though the visible church is separated from the state and other institutions, religion remains pervasive in the common callings of every person to be God’s prophet, priest and king in every vocation and location of life. Luther’s two kingdoms theory is a complicated and controversial part of this thinking, but it is worth re-exploring today as pluralistic Scandinavia faces strong new pressures of both sacralization and secularization and seeks to discern anew “the hidden sacraliity of the secular.