Setting Writing Goals: Generative Writing, Time Management, and Getting Past that Blinking Cursor

Professor Wendy Highby relates advice from professional writers, including faculty and writing guru Robert Boice. Learn how academic writers approach writing and their inside information on strategies for writing and finishing your dissertation with the least stress possible. Associate Professor Stephanie Wiegand discusses the SMART method for writing goals, writing trackers to record progress (for your benefit as well as that of your advisor), how to plan backwards and set up a research and manuscript timeline, and advice on checking in with your goals and readjusting as necessary (because life happens)

Walking a Mile in Their Shoes: Designing Inclusive Surveys to Level the Playing Field

Are you ready to make your library a better environment for employees and users from all walks of life Surveys are a great way to gather useful information about how to optimally serve excluded communities. The prospect of surveying marginalized populations can be intimidating. What if your questions offend the very people you wish to accommodate and include The presenters defuse this potential minefield by sharing their lived experience of ethnic identity (Latina) and disability (Parkinsons disease). In a recent PLOSOne article it was noted that researchers establish trust with participants by designing questions that resonate with participants lived experiences. In this session we advocate that the participant experience should be central in the survey design and input from community members is critical. By involving members of the marginalized groups in the design, librarians can find solid footing that gives them confidence that the questions they ask are respectful and inclusive

Awakening and Rekindling Interest in Open Access: How to Instill Enthusiasm and Keep It Alive

How can academic librarians awaken and keep alive the enthusiasm for open access on their campuses? What are the typical stages of open access awareness? After you’ve tried the obvious strategies--such as celebration of Open Access Week, acknowledgement of faculty open access publications, promotion of open access resources, and passage of symbolic faculty endorsements of open access—what is the next step? This is a tale of two libraries: One, a medium-sized, research-intensive university, has reached a plateau in its innovative adoption of open access initiatives; the other, a small, primarily undergraduate, private university, is just beginning its open access initiatives. The presenters, each intensively involved in scholarly communication issues at their respective institutions, will share their experiences and talk about points of resistance and challenge. Then they will lead participants in an interactive exercise to brainstorm new ways to awaken and rekindle interest and regain momentum in the pursuit of open access initiatives at any type of college or university, no matter the size, mission, or stage of awareness

Setting Writing Goals: Generative Writing, Time Management, and Getting Past that Blinking Cursor

Professor Wendy Highby relates advice from professional writers, including faculty and writing guru Robert Boice. Learn how academic writers approach writing and their inside information on strategies for writing and finishing your dissertation with the least stress possible. Associate Professor Stephanie Wiegand discusses the SMART method for writing goals, writing trackers to record progress (for your benefit as well as that of your advisor), how to plan backwards and set up a research and manuscript timeline, and advice on checking in with your goals and readjusting as necessary (because life happens)

Environmental Activism of Teacher-Scholars in the Neoliberal University

This article takes a case study approach to examine social justice-oriented environmental activism of faculty in the context of neoliberalism. As an evolving trend, university corporatization places new economic burdens on universities and their students and has contributed to a tenuous landscape for faculty in terms of academic freedom and job security. In particular, we examine a faculty-led response to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. Drawing on participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and campus-wide survey data, we document this response as a “tempered grassroots leader-ship” approach to workplace inquiry and activism. We discuss both the opportunities and limitations of promoting more transparent, informed, and inclusive decision-making on campus via internal and tempered activism strategies. Ultimately, this case presents lessons learned regarding social change practices of teacher-scholar-activists on college campuses. These experiences are especially germane in the “Trump era” of top-down and socially regressive decision-making

Lost in Cyberspace: Tracking Fugitive Web Resources

Can researchers in 2006 locate web resources cited in graduate theses from 2001-2004? Data from a citation analysis study reveals the astounding number of altered, moved, or lost websites. This study quantitatively describes a particular manifestation of the ubiquitous but often undocumented problem of web resource instability. It points to many possible innovative solutions, such as instructional and archival interventions by librarians

University of Northern Colorado Libraries Mentoring Program

The UNC University Libraries faculty used a collaborative process to create the mentoring program plan and supporting materials

The Quotidian Apocalypse and the Quixotic Cause: An Interview with Author Connie Willis

The writer Connie Willis lives in Greeley, Colorado, home to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). She is an alumna of UNC and has chosen to deposit her papers in its archives. A pre-eminent science fiction author, her clock- and calendar-defying tales of time travel have transported many fans and won numerous awards. Her stellar reputation in fandom and among librarians as a mentor, peer, and public intellectual is well-deserved and hard-earned. She gives generously of her time at conventions, conferences, and community events. We finally caught up with her in the latter days of Summer 2018, after the Locus Awards and the Westercon science fiction and fantasy convention, and interviewed her about her recent novella “I Met a Traveler in an Antique Land” (first appearing in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 2017 and later published by Subterranean Press in 2018). It concerns a disappearing Manhattan bookshop that may also be a harbor for endangered books. The story’s subject matter is of great relevance for archivists and librarians of the Anthropocene—as is the content of our conversation with Ms. Willis, which ranges from the insidious nature of censorship to the nobility of fighting for lost causes. Pre-print first published online 11/08/201

Off-the-Shelf, into the Community: Academic/Community Outreach

Three members of the University of Northern Colorado\u27s Libraries faculty share their experiences implementing programming and engaged outreach to the campus and surrounding community. Leveraging opportunities on - and off-campus revealed unanticipated challenges and rewards for the presenters; join this lively conversation about our journey as a nontraditional engaged campus entity