“I was pretty appalled by this.”: Teaching Students About the Exclusive and Exclusionary Scholarly Publishing Ecosystem

This conference session is about the design and reception of a research lesson focusing on the importance of understanding biases that are inherent in the research and scholarly publication processes, and how students and faculty can be more intentional in their research process through inclusive language, asking questions about information, and thinking critically about research. The lesson provides foundational information about how the scholarly publishing ecosystem works and how it can (and does) exclude more diverse voices, encourages students to think more deeply about their own identities and how those identities can affect the research they do, and concludes with a discussion about citation justice and the importance of citing not just to avoid plagiarism but to give minoritized scholars credit for their work. It also provides students and their accompanying faculty with tools to help ensure that their research represents a more diverse field. By providing transparent information about how scholarly publishing works and how much and why the library pays for the information they are expected to use in their projects, students are trusted to understand how information has value and the world excludes those who cannot afford to engage. It also challenges them to consider their own identities and how they may have assumptions or biases that could affect the results they achieve when doing research. While more theoretical than most one-shot library instruction, this lesson (re)engaged both students and the librarians teaching it, and has been gaining popularity since its creation. The conference session will also discuss how the lesson was received by students, how it can be modified to work with any discipline, and how it will be utilized in the future. There will also be recommendations on how to do similar work with your own students

The eyes have it: Using eye-tracking to evaluate a library website

When Western New England University announced its intentions to switch over its entire website from a legacy homegrown system to a brand new CMS, we were faced with moving all content on the library’s website from one platform to another over the course of a summer. We needed to make our content fit into a strict new design scheme, but also wanted to take full advantage of the switch and use it as an opportunity to make our content work even better for our students. To determine how successfully students were able to navigate the new library website, we partnered with our engineering department to conduct a usability study using eyetracking software. In addition to useful information about how students use the website, we also learned a great deal about conducting research and working with outside partners. Through sharing our experience, we hope that anyone interested in conducting their own usability study will come away with tips, ideas, and pitfalls to avoid