RSS 1.0Professional Librarian Papers and Research
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A collection of grey literature and pre-press material created by the Professional Librarian of Brock University Library.
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No Justice, Only Struggle2022 has been a year of overlapping crises. The so-called “Freedom Convoys” paralyzing Canadian communities, the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause excess death and disability, the war in Ukraine, the intensifying effects of climate change, and increasing inflation have all signaled that we find ourselves in a new era, one that can be described as authoritarian capitalism. In this article, we view the restructuring of Canadian universities as yet another facet of authoritarian capitalism, which uses overlapping crises to further proletarianize library labour and fully subsume it into the “learning factory.” Using Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson’s theorization of the politics of capital’s operations, we examine the library restructuring processes taking place at four Canadian universities: Alberta, Brock, Laurentian, and OCAD. We view the reorganizations taking place there as efforts on behalf of university administrators to use the intensification of global forces of capitalism to exploit academic librarian labour. Ultimately, we argue that Canadian librarians are witnessing both formal and real subsumption in Canadian universities, precipitated by the overlapping crises outlined earlier. As a result, we insist that librarians need to develop a politics of struggle to build collective consciousness and action in the face of authoritarian capitalism.
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“Put the fucking salary in the job ad!”In February 2016, I activated the @lis_grievances Twitter bot. The dynamics of the bot are straightforward and can be described in three steps: First, a person sends a direct message to the account; second, the message is stripped of all identifying information; and third, upon passing a minimal list of posting criteria, the message is tweeted. More than five years on, the bot has collected a corpus of thousands of tweets, some safe to publish on Twitter and some not, ranging from benign takes on the library establishment to profanity-laden tirades. Quite often, the tweets invoke feelings that range from pathos to disgust, and sometimes even situational irony and humor as evidenced, for example, in this tweet from June 1, 2018: “How can we innovate when we don’t have permissions to install software?” This chapter examines tweeted content through the online disinhibition effect (ODE), a theory explaining how anonymity pushes sentiment into extreme directions. According to ODE, users of @lis_grievances experience a lack of restraint due to their anonymity and, thus, feel comfortable venting and otherwise offering observations of and comments on perceived flaws in their individual workplaces and in the LIS profession at large. Using text analysis and a new custom metric called the grief index, a qualitative and quantitative examination of the corpus of tweets is presented and explored as evidence of systemic dysfunctional library states.
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Data Analysis as the Next StepArticle outlines the importance of community action for providing infrastructure to support analysis and use of whistle-blower data. Datashare from ICIJ (https://datashare.icij.org/) is described.
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Information Seeking Behaviors, Attitudes, and Choices of Academic MathematiciansMathematicians in academic institutions utilize a variety of resources and strategies to seek, find, and use scholarly information and news. Using a sample of mathematicians, researchers surveyed 112 students and faculty at four Canadian university institutions to explore self-perceived success rates, resources consulted, databases used, use of social media, and citation management systems. Further, 12 follow-up interviews were completed with mathematicians to better interpret survey results, resulting information-seeking behaviors, choices, strategies, and feelings on keeping up to date with information needs. According to survey results, a minority of mathematicians (12.5 percent) acknowledged that they were successfully keeping up to date. However, a significant number of mathematicians (28.6 percent) indicated that they were unsuccessful and could do better in remaining current with information needs. Co-investigators, using qualitative analyses, identified four emergent themes related to remaining current: (1) The “slower pace of math” pervades all aspects of this discipline;” (2) There are “too many papers – and not enough time” to effectively search, evaluate, and read scholarly papers of interest; (3) Mathematicians collectively acknowledge that they are open to strategies and technologies where they “could do better” keeping up to date; and (4) Mathematicians have divided loyalties using databases when searching for information by means of “MathSciNet in a Google world.” Additional insights document how mathematicians are guided by mathematical peculiarities and discipline-specific practices. This study helps to shed light on opportunities for academic librarians to identify and meet mathematicians’ evolving information needs.
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Information Seeking Behaviors, Attitudes, and Choices of Academic PhysicistsPhysicists in academic institutions utilize a variety of resources and strategies to seek, find, and use scholarly information and news. Using a sample of physicists, researchers surveyed 182 students and faculty at seven Canadian university institutions to explore self-perceived success rates, resources consulted, databases used, and use of social media and citation management systems. To complement the survey, 11 follow up interviews/focus groups were completed with participants to further uncover information-seeking behaviors, choices, strategies, and feelings around keeping up to date with information needs. According to survey results, a minority of physicists (15.4%) acknowledged that they were successfully keeping up to date. However, a significant number of physicists (28.6%) indicated that they were unsuccessful and could do better in remaining current with information needs. Co-investigators, using qualitative analyses, identified four emergent themes: (1) There are “too many papers – and not enough time” to effectively search, evaluate and read scholarly papers of interest; (2) Staying up to date is important especially in competitive research areas; (3) Graduate students seek information differently than faculty and experienced researchers; and (4) The arXiv database is important to many physicists. Additional minor themes included physics-related publishing is constantly evolving; physicists use a variety of information-seeking behaviors; and, information-seeking methods can differ between physics subdisciplines. This study aims to shed light on opportunities for academic librarians to identify and meet physicists’ evolving information behaviors, attitudes, choices, and needs.
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Book Review: RabbitsBook Review of 'Rabbits' written by Terry Miles.
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DESIGN SPRINTS AND DIRECT EXPERIMENTATION: DIGITAL HUMANITIES MUSIC PEDAGOGY AT A SMALL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGEIn this essay, we detail the pedagogical collaboration between a digital humanities librarian, a professor of music and digital media, and a second-year music student that took the form of a design sprint. The product of the design sprint was the Mapping Sentiments through Music (MStM) application. Using this project as a case study, we argue that both digital humanities and music education share a commonality: both disciplines can incorporate elements of design thinking to be successful. As a result, our efforts center direct experimentation with a team, and foster design thinking by promoting descriptive exchange, creative problem solving, and the creation of emergent rather than explicitly delimited meanings. We conclude with several remarks on overlaps between music and design pedagogy, and on librarian-faculty collaborations. This article was published in the Music Library Association’s journal, Notes 77, 4, June 2021, and 561-585. The version of record is available at https://proxy.library.brocku.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=150204301&site=ehost-live&scope=site. This material may not be copied or reposted without written permission of MLA
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Business data: issues and challenges from the Canadian perspectiveThis paper explores the issues and challenges that we have faced as Canadian academic business librarians when working with business data. As this is an exploratory study, we hope only to start a discussion among data librarians about some key challenges facing the academic community related to supporting the teaching and research use of business data. Our paper begins with a brief discussion of general data trends, followed by a detailed exploration of business data trends and trends in Canadian business education. We discuss challenges and issues related to working with business data from both the collections and reference service perspectives, including the pros and cons of providing business data services and support within the library environment. We conclude by suggesting some measures that both academic business librarians and data librarians can take to address some of these challenges.
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The End of Libraries and Librarianship - Part 34Librarians have bemoaned the constant clatter overheard from commentators that libraries are obsolete and no longer relevant. This observation is contrary to the lived experiences of those that serve in and depend upon public and academic libraries. A call to action challenges librarians everywhere to change this narrative by intentionally sharing stories of their essential work, service, community building… with anyone who will listen. An annotated list of readings and streaming videos is provided that builds on the inspirational work of David Lankes, Lisa Peet, Lance Werner, Mark Smith, Shamichael Hallman, Catherine Murray-Must, Michael Stephens and others. Libraries are observed to be places of transformative change. Librarians are found to be passionate, courageous and indispensable. Story telling is a powerful instrument for librarians and people that volunteer and serve in libraries to make the seemingly invisible work of libraries - more visible.
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Overcoming Language Barriers for Non-Native Speakers of English: Learner Autonomy in Academic LibrariesThe purpose of this chapter is to give librarians a brief overview of the theory of learner autonomy and to explain how fostering its presence in libraries can help overcome language barriers for non-native speakers of English.
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Adult learning theories and autoethnography: Informing the practice of information literacyThe learning theories of self-directed learning and lifelong learning can inform the practice of information literacy in higher education for adult learners. These theories lend themselves to the use of autoethnography, a research methodology that relies on the exploration of lived experiences through reflexivity informed by theory. In conducting an autoethnography on information literacy, its practice appears as both a singular and a collective activity. Multiple ramifications for practice come from this exploration. These ramifications include considerations of choices, barriers, conducive learning environments, informal learning opportunities, and the need for reflection for adult learners. Applying the learning theories of self-directed learning and lifelong learning to the practice of information literacy offers librarians new and useful perspectives on its practice with adult learners.
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A Community Without a Space: Digital Scholarship at Brock UniversityThe Digital Scholarship Lab at Brock University was originally set to open in the fall of 2018. However, the opening was delayed to the following summer. What that meant is that during the last academic year digital scholarship support has been provided by a nomadic team, relying on convincing ideas and compelling project work to increase the profile of the service. This session will look at the trajectory of that year and the many services that were piloted despite the lack of any physical footprint.
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Adult education and academic librariesAbstract Purpose – The purpose of this review is to offer practicing academic librarians an overview of adult education theories as a way to more deeply understand and further foster adult learning in academic libraries. Design/methodology approach – This article is a literature review. Findings – This review introduces academic librarians to a range of specific adult education learning theories, it offers examples of academic library users engaging in these types of adult learning, it considers how academic libraries can further foster adult learning, and it identifies major characteristics of adult learners. Originality/value – This literature review offers a summative overview of adult education in a way that has not appeared in the library literature to date, along with explicit connections between adult education theories and academic library practices.
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Forging Multiple Pathways: Integrating International Students into a Canadian University LibraryThis chapter describes five different projects undertaken at the Brock University Library in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, which represent different pathways toward integrating international students into academic libraries. These projects were designed to welcome and introduce international students to the library as well as to support their extended learning by the library. Each of them represents a different type of pathway toward that goal of integration.
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Self-Directed Second Language Learning in LibrariesThis content analysis research study investigated self-directed language learning of adult English as a second language (ESL) learners in libraries. ESL learners are a growing population in libraries, and understanding how they can use or are using libraries helps libraries better serve them. The purpose of this study was to determine if they can or are engaging in self-directed learning in libraries. The documents analyzed comprised library journal articles and library websites. The first finding suggests that self-directed second language learning is taking place in libraries but mainly through online instruction. The second finding is that many types of second language learning material are available for use in and through libraries. The third finding is that physical spaces dedicated to second language learning do exist in libraries. Together, these findings show that library services, resources, and spaces can support self-directed second language learners in their learning.
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CThis is chapter 8 of "The Librarian's Introduction to Programming Languages" entitled C. It introduces the C language in a context suitable for Librarians and information professionals.
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Librarians and ESL Instructors as Campus Partners in Collaboration and Alliance BuildingLibrarians and English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors can be campus partners to improve student learning. This article describes one way for librarians to begin working collaboratively with their ESL instructor counterparts on a university campus. It offers the creation and use of an assessment tool designed to capture ESL students’ library learning as an initial point of collaboration. Following the discussion of the creation and use of this tool, this article then advocates for librarians and ESL instructors to build mutually beneficial alliances between them. These alliances can be based on commonalities and can offer benefits for professionals working in both roles on campus.
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Libraries and the Arctic: Language Education SupportThe Arctic inspires awe. This unique region of the world has been studied in many ways by many different disciplines. The discipline of librarianship can also add to its study. In this article, the authors, a practicing Canadian librarian at Brock University in Ontario and an Inuktitut student enrolled at the same university, offer a suggested role for libraries to play in the ongoing study of the Arctic. They explore and describe the role of libraries in supporting native Arctic language education. Support for learning and preserving native Arctic languages can be found in library collections, spaces and services. This article looks at support of native speakers and other interested language learners, support of language research, support of language preservation, and support of new publishing opportunities that can be provided by or through libraries. These language support examples come from a document analysis that perused web sites, conference proceedings, published scholarship in the form of books and articles, newspaper sources, and personal background knowledge of the authors. Documents were collected, categorized, and described. The language support categories that emerged illustrate the many different ways that libraries can engage in native Arctic language education support. In offering this role, the authors hope to provide a means for librarians to learn more about the Arctic as well as a way for libraries to contribute to knowledge of the Arctic.
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The Experience of International Students at Cross-Border University LibrariesThis article describes the results of a small research study investigating international student library use and perceptions in a cross-border setting. The graduate degree program at the center of this study is a binational joint degree M.A. program in Canadian-American studies that takes place simultaneously at Brock University in Canada and at the State University of New York at Buffalo in the United States. The students’ library use was explored as were their perceptions of the two different university library systems. Results indicate that students in such joint degree programs do make use of cross-border university libraries and that they see benefits in doing so. This suggests that these library settings offer librarians a unique but viable way of working with international students, and that cross-border university libraries are worthy of both mention and further study in librarianship
