Author Archive: ltevents

Teaching and Learning Centers: Recasting the Role of Librarians as Educators and Change Agents

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Session Description:
Teaching and Learning Centers in higher education are a growing force for educational development and changing the culture of teaching and learning. Librarians can transform their role as educators through joining forces with these Centers and developing a repertoire of approaches for becoming strategic partners, including the use of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy as a catalyst for conversations and collaborations. This paper presents survey results from higher education teaching and learning centers across the U.S. which explore the involvement of librarians and perceptions of their contributions. These results point to ways for implementing deeper teaching and learning collaborations.

 

Talking about Research: Applying Textual Analysis Software to Student Interviews

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Session Description:
Do you ever feel like your students are speaking a different language? Are you interested in how students actually go about doing their research assignments? This presentation addresses these questions and more through a textual analysis of 20 in-depth, qualitative interviews conducted with undergraduates about their research process. The presenters utilize the textual analysis tool Voyant to provide a quantitative analysis of the students’ language use and apply narrative inquiry to explore how students make sense of the research process.

 

Supporting Neurodiversity in the Academic Library: Research, Best Practices, and Personal Experiences

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Session Description:
This discussion focuses on the challenges and opportunities that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) creates in academic libraries.  In this panel, attendees will learn about the latest research from an IMLS funded study, practical perspectives from a library administrator at a major university, and perspectives of employment from a librarian on the spectrum. We’ll discuss the need for acceptance of neurodiversity at academic libraries, strategies for positive change in designing the library experience for students on the spectrum, and improving the hiring process and employment for librarians with autism. Join us, bring your questions, and we look forward to the conversation. 

 

Supporting K-12 education in academic libraries: What’s in it for us?

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Session Description:
Two very different universities in a major metropolitan area are pursuing several initiatives with local K-12 schools to better prepare students for the transition to college. Even as state funds for educational media services in secondary schools decrease, the Common Core and College Board AP curricula place increasing value on research skills at all levels. Academic librarians must adapt to this changing environment. Outreach initiatives also support institutional priorities to improve recruitment, retention, and engagement with our community. Participants will leave the panel with fresh ideas on how to forge new partnerships with local schools.

 

Support Scholars Who Share: Combating the Mismatch between Openness Policies and Professional Rewards

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Session Description:
Librarians play a leading role in promoting openness in scholarly communication, including open access, open data, and public accountability. However, individual researchers remain reluctant to embrace open scholarship or change their communication habits, largely because scholars who practice what we preach are disadvantaged in the current promotion and tenure process. Universities’ present interest in openness initiatives provide an opportunity to advocate for reform. Learn why librarians must push for a promotional system that rewards open scholarship at the institutional level to see genuine progress in research integrity and public access.

 

STEM librarians needed: rethinking recruitment by looking at impactful leaders today

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Session Description:
STEM librarians have taken a lead role in demonstrating the range of opportunities for academic librarians. By recasting their roles outside of the library, they have demonstrable influence in the classroom and in labs, as advocates for community engagement, and as designers of research & instruction development opportunities. But, what makes STEM librarians positioned to lead this way? What specific skills do they have? How can we ensure new librarians are being funneled into STEM academic librarianship paths? To answer these questions, this panel will explore how librarians are recasting their roles and renewing their approach to recruitment and training.

 

Start something new: How libraries support cross-campus entrepreneurship education, commercial and nonprofit start-ups, and entrepreneurial thinking

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Session Description:
Students are increasingly creating their own jobs and supporting their communities through both commercial startups and social entrepreneurship. Campuses across the country are adopting mandates to support entrepreneurial thinking and cross-campus entrepreneurship education. Libraries are at the center of such initiatives, with librarians helping students find their paths and make a difference. In this session, you’ll hear from four librarians supporting entrepreneurship in a variety of ways on diverse campuses. Topics will include outreach, instruction, campus and community engagement, and collection issues. We will ask audience members to contribute their own ideas, successes, and challenges with campus entrepreneurship.

 

Spinning a Scholarly Story: Using Faculty Interviews to Develop a Scholarly Communications Agenda for Liaison Librarians

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Session Description:
How do liaison librarians develop services that meet faculty needs related to scholarly communications issues when a library is unable to provide full-time, dedicated staff to such efforts? This paper describes one university’s attempts to develop a scholarly communications agenda for its liaison librarian program. Liaison librarians conducted semi-structured interviews with faculty in their respective departments about topics related to their experiences with and perceptions regarding publishing, metrics, copyright, open access, grants, data sharing requirements, and open educational resources. Information from the interviews was used to create a strategy for developing and marketing scholarly communications services.

 

Soft skills revealed: an examination of relational skills in librarianship

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Session Description:
This session reports on a qualitative interview study exploring academic librarians’ soft skills. The results show the different skills librarians used across different work situations along with some challenges librarians faced in enacting those soft skills. The findings reveal some gaps between informal and formal behavioral expectations in the workplace and point to opportunities for organizations to develop soft skills in the workforce through clarifying expectations, improved training, and systematic evaluation.

 

Social Justice as a Core Professional Value: One Library’s Story

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Session Description:
How can your library become a more just place? In this session, panelists will share the story of one undergraduate library’s movement toward an embrace of non-neutrality and social justice as core operating values. Inspired by an historic in-library protest during finals week, the library’s staff strives toward putting our profession’s stated commitment to social justice, diversity, and equity into action. We will share our challenges, failures, and successes with you and create space for you to share your own.