Centering Humanity in Digital Scholarship (Featured Speaker)

Advances in technology have brought computational power to our collections and expanded the ways that scholarship is researched and made available. Yet while library and information professionals continue to grapple with standards, storage, accessibility, and workflows to keep pace with existing digital scholarship demands, new innovations are waiting in the wings. Promises of linked data, machine learning, and AI have some of us eager for the new adventure and others concerned about capacity and expertise. Entangled in all this technology are people. The people who do the foundational work, the people who produce the collections in an archive, the people who produce the data, and the people who produce the scholarship. Moreover, these groups of people are not mutually exclusive to one another. How do we center humanity in the work of digital scholarship while advancing new methods and technologies? How do we exhibit care for privacy, community values, and research while engaging fully in the scholarly communication landscape? This talk will pose these questions and offer some possible courses of action, as we work to be stewards of cultural heritage in a just and ethical manner

Data Information Literacy and Undergraduates: A Critical Competency

As a primer on data information literacy (DIL), this column will cover the background of the field and why it is relevant to college and university libraries serving undergraduate populations. This article includes how data information literacy relates to information literacy, competencies associated with DIL, the relevance of DIL to undergraduates, DIL in library instruction, and the reasons for library engagement with DIL. Examining DIL within the larger framework of information literacy can help outreach and instruction librarians engage with a format that may be unfamiliar to them but whose underlying foundation is well-established

Data Curation Is for Everyone! The Case for Master\u27s and Baccalaureate Institutional Engagement with Data Curation

This article describes the fundamental challenges to data curation, how these challenges may be compounded for smaller institutions, and how data management is an essential and manageable component of data curation. Data curation is often discussed within the confines of large research universities. As a result, master\u27s and baccalaureate institutions may be left with the impression that they cannot engage with data curation. However, by proactively engaging with faculty, libraries of all sizes can build closer relationships and help educate faculty on data documentation and organizational best practices. This article describes experiences from one master\u27s comprehensive institution as it engages with data management. In a period of several months, James Madison University went from no formal data advising to a coordinated data management support plan for faculty. Collaboration across campus—and across institutions—can help make data curation an accomplishable goal. This article provides guidance on how to begin the conversation and plan for future engagement with data curation, and makes comparisons to scalable efforts with institutional repositories to further encourage participation with data curation. Research universities account for 297 of the 1,832 four-year institutes of higher education in the United States of America. There must be stewardship of the data from the remaining 1,535 organizations to help preserve the complete intellectual product of the nation. Additional resources and readings are included

The State of Open Access in the USA Today

This keynote presentation was given at the International Relations Round-table pre-conference at ALA Annual 2017. The session looked at the intersection between the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ways that Open Access (OA) efforts can be used to further those goals. This presentation provided an overview of OA in the United States and what the global implications of that situation are

Data Curation for Information Professionals

2 presentations: 1. Data Curation in a Research Library: A Start-Up Story Patricia Hswe, Penn State University (31 minutes) 2. Wading into the Data Pool: Engaging with data management without drowning...hopefully Yasmeen Shorish, James Madison University (30:42 to 1 hour and 6 mins) Participants in this event, which is approved for MLA Continuing Education credit (1.5 hours), will gain a working knowledge of the need for data curation; a greater understanding of the role of libraries in data management planning; the experiences of two specific libraries with their researchers’ data management needs; and where to find resources for help, including examples from ARL libraries and data management planning guides created by National Science Foundation directorates. With the participation of attendees, we will also explore how data curation applies in different settings, such as hospitals

Why Are We Still Talking About Diversity? Combatting Misconceptions in an Academic Library

This poster will present the assessment and intervention activities of individuals at a mid-sized academic library with respect to diversity personnel initiatives. Each year, library employees complete a survey designed to gauge satisfaction and areas for improvement. Qualitative data suggest that library staff are confused about definitions of diversity and/or lack requisite buy-in and interest in initiatives that address diversity concerns. The activities and outcomes of an intervention to address these issues will be discussed

Racial Tension On Display: Engaging with Black Lives Matter and Negotiating Public Push-back

This poster details the production of a book display on Black Lives Matter and the resulting vandalism that occurred. The Libraries used this event as an educational opportunity, while recognizing the harm that it could bring to communities that identify with the Black Lives Matter movement. The poster also addresses areas of improvement for the Libraries and the importance of outreach activities for our communities

Building Data and Information Literacy in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum

The Literature and Seminar sequence at James Madison University has been used to develop the chemistry information literacy skills of chemistry majors for over four decades. These courses have been continually updated to emphasize information literacy skills for the twenty-first century. This chapter describes the methods that have been developed to improve chemical, data and general information literacy at a large, public, primarily undergraduate institution. The focus of the first semester course, described in this chapter, is on skill building rather than teaching specific resources. It is a model of integration and collaboration between chemistry faculty and chemistry librarians. Changes in information resources, disciplinary standards, and assessment are used to inform and refine course instruction. While implementation of a course is always unique because of the size, curricular structure, culture, and students associated with an institution, we think that the approach described herein will be applicable to other programs

Supplemental Materials for Building Data and Information Literacy in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum

Course syllabus from Chem 481, Fall 2015, to supplement the chapter Building Data and Information Literacy in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum in the monograph Integrating Library and Information Literacy Into Chemistry Curricula - ACS Symposium Series, ACS Publications

The Evolution of Library Instruction Delivery in the Chemistry Curriculum Informed by Mixed Assessment Methods

As information continues to evolve over time, the information literacy expectations for chemistry students also change. This article examines transformations to an undergraduate chemistry course that focuses on chemical literature and information literacy and is co-taught by a chemistry professor and a chemistry librarian. This article also describes results from assessment of both content knowledge and student perception, and discusses how the assessment was used to inform changes to the course. This type of student assessment and evaluation has not previously been examined in the delivery of required undergraduate chemistry information courses. Since this course has used in-person, online, and blended delivery methods, the article describes what students can learn from online modules, and where they need more intensive classroom instruction.Publisher allows immediate open acces