Publication

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

Abstract
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.
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presentation
event
Date
2023-06-06
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