Building a Pedagogy of Idea Generation and Embodied Inquiry

What futures become possible when we center questions, inquiry, and affective responses in research processes? What does it mean to support encounters with new ideas? In this article, I explore non-extractive models of teaching and learning, sharing ways of making space for idea generation, an under-described part of research and creative practice. The coming-up-with-ideas part of creative and scholarly work can be challenging to articulate, share, and teach. What if we paused and stretched this part out, making it more visible? By browsing physical collections of books in community with one another, during “curated browsing” experiences, we give ourselves — both faculty and students alike — space and time to meander, wonder, share observations, and disrupt transactional models of learning and scholarship. We build an awareness of how ideas are informed by power structures, and co-create humanizing spaces where knowledge is relational and embodied. By centering inquiry and idea generation, we activate the intersection of research, pedagogy, and lived experience

E-Browsing: Serendipity and Questions of Access and Discovery

Browsing is an essential component to discovery. Understanding the foundations of browsing patterns and preferences is crucial in developing effective e-browsing environments. It’s important to understand how researchers in diverse disciplines have described their discoveries in terms of browsing, searching, and serendipitous encounters. Examining the works of scientists, social scientists, and humanists through the lens of discovery will reveal essential components to be aware of in developing e-browsing environments. In turning to a wide range of sources, often outside traditional library literature, we deepen our understanding of what it means to browse in an electronic environment. As librarians, we have an obligation to create physical and virtual spaces that cultivate wonder and curiosity and acknowledge varied paths to discovery. Electronic browsing options must become more robust if libraries are to be vital to scholarly communication. In this presentation we focus on the language and experience of browsing, with particular attention to serendipitous discovery, in order to encourage librarians, particularly those in public service, to more effectively articulate concerns and opportunities to developers

E-Browsing: Serendipity and Questions of Access and Discovery

Browsing is an essential component to discovery. Understanding the foundations of browsing patterns and preferences is crucial in developing effective e-browsing environments. It is important to understand how researchers in diverse disciplines have described their discoveries in terms of browsing, searching, and serendipitous encounters. Examining the works of scientists, social scientists, and humanists through the lens of discovery will reveal essential components to be aware of in developing e-browsing environments. In turning to a wide range of sources, often outside traditional library literature, we deepen our understanding of what it means to browse in an electronic environment. As librarians, we have an obligation to create physical and virtual spaces that cultivate wonder and curiosity and acknowledge varied paths to discovery. Electronic browsing options must become more robust if libraries are to be vital to scholarly communication. In this presentation, we focus on the language and experience of browsing, with particular attention to serendipitous discovery, in order to encourage librarians, particularly those in public service, to more effectively articulate concerns and opportunities to developers

Findings and Recommendations: ULS FY16 Action on Geospatial Information, Spatial Literacy, Mapping, and GIS

The University Library System (ULS) annual plan for FY16 included the following action and its associated outcomes:  "Action: Supply up­ to­ date geospatial data equipment, data resources, and dedicated staff to provide service across disciplines in the use of geospatial data and to promote the ULS’ role as a campus hub for geospatial data activity and expertise. Outcomes: Identify equipment, software, staffing, and training needs. Purchase equipment and software and hire staff. Develop communications plan. Offer training sessions provided to ULS staff and the university community. Showcase successful projects." To support this action, a project team was chartered and began to work in November, 2015. During the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016, the project team gathered information, analyzed it, and produced findings and recommendations. This report, which shares those findings and recommendations, represents the main deliverable of the project team

Visioning the (im)possible: Experiences of Librarian-caregivers During the Pandemic and Strategies for the Future of Library Work

What has the pandemic work-life experience been for library workers who have caregiving responsibilities? As reports trickle into popular media about the perilously strained state of working parents, we look to our membership to ask: how are librarian caregivers holding up, moving forward, and making change in the workplace? This panel conversation addresses the current state and future possibilities of remote, hybrid, and flexible work arrangements in art libraries, specifically examining how these arrangements impact art librarians and library workers who are also caregivers. We ask: how has the “how” of our work changed? How can we co-create library workplaces that allow all workers to contribute and thrive? Panelists will share aggregate information gathered from the media, ARLIS/NA members, vignettes of life during the pandemic that illustrate shared but often unspoken experiences, and examples of advocacy and success in grappling with and implementing change toward a more equitable workplace

Old Texts and New Media: Jewish Books on the Move and a Case for Collaboration

Footprints: Jewish Books Through Time and Place is a database and research project designed to trace books-in-motion. It brings together acts of careful individual research with large-scale quantification and mapping: using inscriptions, owner’s marks, and catalogues of copies of early Jewish printed books. The project is a cooperative endeavor of four project directors, both faculty and librarian, from different institutions each representing different fields of Jewish Studies. With the technical expertise of partners at a university-based center for teaching and learning, a mix of paid and volunteer student, post-doctoral, and library based researchers, the project directors have created a database that is transforming the way research on the history of the book is done. The chapter will address collaboration in three aspects: between project directors; between the project and its contributors (individual and institutional, public and private); and between contributors and users. The chapter argues for a new model of iterative projects that relies in part on networked collaboration rather than only on operations in concert by a small, bounded group

Artifacts of Creative Labor

In this presentation I explore the interconnectivity of my role as an artist, librarian, and caregiver. I decided to make a zine about my talk, rather than sharing slides, which has allowed me to reflect a bit more on what I shared. In this zine I describe several projects, including "Curiosity Archive" and "I'm wondering if you can help me with something." I am interested what it means to ask a question, and what it means to respond. I presented this as a part of the panel, "Creative Practice as Scholarly Practice: Artistic Alternatives to ‘Publish or Perish’ Models in LIS,

Building a Pedagogy of Idea Generation and Embodied Inquiry

What futures become possible when we center questions, inquiry, and affective responses in research processes? What does it mean to support encounters with new ideas? In this article, I explore non-extractive models of teaching and learning, sharing ways of making space for idea generation, an under-described part of research and creative practice. The coming-up-with-ideas part of creative and scholarly work can be challenging to articulate, share, and teach. What if we paused and stretched this part out, making it more visible? By browsing physical collections of books in community with one another, during “curated browsing” experiences, we give ourselves — both faculty and students alike — space and time to meander, wonder, share observations, and disrupt transactional models of learning and scholarship. We build an awareness of how ideas are informed by power structures, and co-create humanizing spaces where knowledge is relational and embodied. By centering inquiry and idea generation, we activate the intersection of research, pedagogy, and lived experience

What is curiosity and can it be learned?

This is part 1 of the first discussion in the University of Pittsburgh's four-part series What Does It Mean to Be Curious? between November 2015-April 2016