Taking Flight as a Campus Partner: Library Programs Support a Residential Curriculum

In this chapter, librarians discuss the process of taking part in a university co-curricular residential learning program that effectively tripled attendance at library workshops and continues to challenge and inspire librarians to try new topics and partnerships. By connecting the programs to campus learning goals, the number of library events grew 50% over one year, with individuals from multiple library departments hosting or supporting the events. The authors also include descriptions of efforts related to planning, marketing and assessment of these programs and offer some benefits and challenges to UD’s program model. As the demand for campus programs continues to rise, growth management and coordination, as well as considerations for the future are discussed. This chapter provides helpful case studies, program models, and a feasible structure for all types of libraries. Even without a library-based incentive program, libraries can use these tools, techniques and the program management model to reach their student population and create quality programs to help them reach their destination.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/books/1056/thumbnail.jp

Who’s Talking about Scholarly Communication? An Examination of Gender and Behavior on the SCHOLCOMM Listserv

INTRODUCTION This study analyzes the gender dynamics of the American Library Association’s SCHOLCOMM listserv in order to determine the accuracy of concerns expressed by participants in early 2016 regarding an overrepresentation of male voices on the listserv. METHODS Utilizing the SCHOLCOMM listserv archive, openly available online, the authors analyzed metadata related to individual messages in order to create a comprehensive list of participants, which was then analyzed to determine gender identity. The authors utilized this information to correlate the frequency of new messages and replies sent to the list with the gender identity of participants. RESULTS While men represented 35% of the SCHOLCOMM list’s participants, they contributed over half of the messages sent to the listserv and two-thirds of those sent as replies on existing message threads. DISCUSSION The opinion of several SCHOLCOMM participants that male voices were overrepresented in listserv discussions proved to be true. The gender identity breakdown of those most active on the list may also influence the perceptions and/or behaviors of other listserv participants, however, and should be investigated further. CONCLUSION While this study substantiates the opinion of several listserv participants that male SCHOLCOMM participants account for a disproportionately large amount of listserv discussion, we argue that the dynamics of the listserv can and should be changed in order to better represent the participant population

Who\u27s Talking about Scholarly Communication? Poster Presented at MiALA 2017

This study analyzes gender dynamics on the ALA\u27s SCHOLCOMM listserv. Utilizing the listserv archive, the presenters analyzed individual message metadata in order to create a list of participants along with their gender; this was then utilized to correlate the frequency of new messages and replies sent to the list with the gender identity of participants. The results of the study clearly show that male participation on the list is disproportionately large

Vocation Can Change Throughout Life\u27

Student employees of University Libraries reflect on their experiences in connection to their own individual calling and vocational development

All Majors Welcome: Library Internships and Career Development

The academic library can play a crucial role in experiential learning, particularly through student internships. This library is one of the larger units on campus to employ student workers and we spend many hours training them to handle questions at service desks, assist with cataloging functions, help digitize materials, and a variety of other tasks. In 2011, we built on that idea of student workers and partnered with the University Honors Program to offer customized experiential learning through paid internships. These internships allowed us to spend additional time with students in preparation for their chosen careers or graduate school, helped facilitate additional research skills for the remaining undergraduate years, and even provided the opportunity for students explore their religion in more meaningful ways. Librarians work one-on-one with students from a variety of disciplines and these experiences are customized to student interests, with the library setting acting as a real world laboratory for skills training within the undergraduates’ disciplines or career interests. At the end of this session, participants will be able to do the following: describe the resources needed in order to build, measure and assess for an effective internship program; and articulate how a library internship program can provide necessary skills for careers outside the library world

Texture profile analysis reveals a stiffer ovarian cortex after testosterone therapy : a pilot study

Purpose: The importance of the surrounding ovarian stromal cells and extracellular matrix in the development and maturation of follicles has recently gained attention. An aberrant extracellular matrix has been described in ovaries of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome where a more rigid structural environment, possibly induced by endogenous testosterone, impairs normal folliculogenesis. In this context, we describe the textural parameters of the ovarian cortex of transgender men after prolonged testosterone administration compared to the textural parameters of the non-exposed ovarian cortex originating from female oncological patients. Methods: Texture profile analysis (TPA) was performed on ovarian cortex (5 x 5 mm) of oncological and transgender patients in order to measure stiffness, hardness, cohesiveness, and springiness of the ovarian cortex (LRXplus universal testing system). Statistical analysis was performed using repeated measurements mixed models and the Spearman rank order correlation test (IBM SPSS Statistics 23). Results: A total of 36 frozen-thawed cortical strips (5 x 5 mm) were subjected to TPA. The superficial part of cortex fragments originating from transgender persons (fragments < 1.4 mm; N = 10) appeared to be significantly stiffer compared to cortex derived from oncology patients (fragments < 1.4 mm; N = 7) (6.78 +/- 1.38 N/mm versus 5.41 +/- 0.9 N/mm respectively, p = 0.036). Conclusions: This is the first application of TPA in ovarian cortex to study the physical properties. Comparing the physical properties, we objectively describe an increased cortical stiffness in the most outer part of the ovarian cortex following prolonged testosterone administration in transgender men compared to the ovarian cortex of oncological patients. This preliminary and novel approach could be the start of future research to understand the physical properties of ovarian tissue

Shared Landscapes, Contested Borders: Locating Disciplinarity in an MA Program Revision

It is not unusual to consider a discipline spatially as a space defined or touched by a particular characteristic or force (Wardle and Downs, this collection, emphasis added). This conceptualization makes visible the metaphor at play here: territories are demarcated and differentiated from neighboring environments by borders that can be more or less visible. In this chapter, we use our experience as faculty members invested in a substantive revision of an MA program revision to explore how that process of delineation opens up new questions about disciplinarity. We sought to create a generous curricular space within an MA degree, one that accounted for our own disciplinary expertise, the needs and interests of our students, and the vision of our university. As we did so, we were also constructing a curricular map of what Rhetoric and Composition looks like in the locus of situated, locally responsive, socially productive, problem-oriented knowledge production that MA-granting institutions might provide (Vandenberg and Clary-Lemon 2010, 258)

“Assessment of Student Readiness for Clinical Education in Mixed-mode Curriculum Delivery: A Case Study”

Purpose – The purpose of this case study is to describe a simulation-based assessment designed to assure student readiness for a first full-time clinical experience in an entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy program that transitioned to mixed-mode instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach – A cohort of 40 second-year physical therapy students whose content delivery mode, assessment methods and curricular sequence deviated from the curricular plan participated in a new assessment using standardized patients. The assessment was developed to preferentially address the knowledge, skills, abilities and professional behaviors (KSAs) that were typically assessed with other methods before the pandemic. Findings – The assessment was useful in identifying students who required additional learning experiences to meet expected levels of competence before transition to a first full-time clinical experience. It also identified KSAs that needed to be strengthened within the entire cohort of students. Research limitations/implications – This case study provides an example of feasible implementation of an assessment of student readiness for clinical education that may guide future development of standardized assessments in health profession education (HPE) programs that have or plan to transition to mixed-mode content delivery. Originality/value – This case study highlights the need and process for developing and implementing additional assessments in HPE programs when planned changes or unexpected variations in curriculum delivery occur. This evidence-based assessment preferentially addresses the affective domain of learning and includes competency standards that have recently been developed for physical therapy education in the USA

Making a Third Space for Student Voices in Two Academic Libraries

When we think of voices in the library, we have tended to think of them as disruptive, something to control and manage for the sake of the total library environment. The stereotype of the shushing librarian pervades public perception, creating expectations about the kinds of spaces libraries want to create. Voices are not always disruptive, however. Indeed, developing an academic voice is one of the main challenges facing incoming university students, and libraries can play an important role in helping these students find their academic voices. Two initiatives at two different academic libraries are explored here: a Secrets Wall, where students are invited to write and share a secret during exam time while seeing, reading, commenting on the secrets of others; and a librarian and historian team-taught course called History on the Web, which brings together information literacy and the study of history in the digital age. This article examines both projects and considers how critical perspectives on voice and identity might guide our instructional practices, helping students to learn to write themselves into the university. Further, it describes how both the Secrets Wall and the History on the Web projects intentionally create a kind of “Third Space” designed specifically so students can enter it, negotiate with it, interrogate it, and eventually come to be part of it

The role of maternal obesity in the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders

Recent evidence indicates that perinatal exposure to maternal obesity, metabolic disease, including diabetes and hypertension, and unhealthy maternal diet has a long-term impact on offspring behavior and physiology. During the past three decades, the prevalence of both obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders has rapidly increased. Epidemiologic studies provide evidence that maternal obesity and metabolic complications increase the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders (food addiction, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa), and impairments in cognition in offspring. Animal models of maternal high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity also document persistent changes in offspring behavior and impairments in critical neural circuitry. Animals exposed to maternal obesity and HFD consumption display impairments in hyperactivity, impairments in social behavior, increased anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors, substance addiction, food addiction, and diminished cognition. During development, these offspring are exposed to elevated levels of nutrients (fatty acids, glucose), hormones (leptin, insulin), and inflammatory factors (C-reactive protein, interleukin, and tumor necrosis factor). Such factors appear to permanently change neuroendocrine regulation and brain development in offspring. In addition, inflammation of the offspring brain during gestation impairs the development of neural pathways critical in the regulation of behavior, such as serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and melanocortinergic systems. Dysregulation of these circuits increases the risk of mental health disorders. Given the high rates of obesity in most developed nations, it is critical that the mechanisms by which maternal obesity programs offspring behavior are thoroughly characterized. Such knowledge will be critical in the development of preventative strategies and therapeutic interventions