2017 ACRL NEC Annual Conference

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/54628

The conference schedule was as follows:
8:00 A.M. - 9:00 A.M. | Registration/Continental Breakfast/Vendors
9:00 A.M. - 9:05 A.M. | University of Vermont Dean Welcome
9:05 A.M. - 9:15 A.M. | Sarah Hutton, Vice President, Welcome
9:15 A.M.-10:00 A.M. | Keynote Speaker
10:15 A.M. - 11:15 A.M. | Breakout One (5 sessions)
11:15 A.M. - 11:45 A.M. | Break/Vendors/Poster Session #1 (10 posters)
11:45 A.M. - 12:45 P.M. | Breakout Two (5 sessions)
12:45 P.M. - 1:15 P.M. | Lunch
1:15 P.M. - 1:45 P.M. | Business Meeting/SIG Introductions/Scholarship announcements
2:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. | Breakout Three (5 sessions)
3:00 P.M. - 3:30 P.M. | Break/Vendors/Poster Session #2 (10 posters)
3:30 P.M. - 4:30 P.M. | Breakout Four (6 sessions)
4:30 P.M. - 6:30 P.M. | UVM Libraries/Special Collections Reception at Fleming Museum

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Contested Subjects: Coalition-based Activism in the Library
(2017-05-12) Baron, Jill; DeSantis, John
Upholding values of diversity and inclusion in our libraries sometimes requires concrete measures that go beyond the delivery of information resources or services. One instance of this occurred at Dartmouth College in 2014, when a group of students discovered and subsequently protested the use of the phrase “illegal aliens” in the library catalog’s controlled vocabulary. Librarians at Dartmouth, awakened by the student protest, guided the students in submitting a petition to the Library of Congress to change the heading, which later inspired members of the American Library Association to lobby on their behalf. When the Library of Congress’ Policy and Standards Division announced on March 22, 2016 its plans to replace the subject heading “Aliens” with “Noncitizens” and “Illegal aliens” with two headings, “Noncitizens” and “Unauthorized immigration,” they acknowledged that the changes came as a result of “constituent requests.” The subject heading change was reported on widely by the media, eliciting both strong support and vehement backlash nationwide. For the first time in history, members of the US House of Representatives sought to intervene in the Library of Congress’ editorial practices by legislating that the subject heading change be reversed. On a fundamental level, this story highlights the potential of librarianship to recognize and confront instances of bias in its institutional systems and structures, and to work with users to produce a more inclusive library. It also raises questions about the moral and ethical dimensions of the profession, when and how to engage in disruption, and the responsibility of librarians to protect users and fight for inclusivity and social justice. However, the range of reactions to the subject heading change indicates that this story has impact far beyond the library, representing the struggles and the provocations of the wider immigration debate in the United States. Our presentation will cover the subject heading change from its origins in a one-on-one research consultation to its current status (as of November 2016, the Library of Congress still has not been enacted the change due to political pressures, but we may see some form of resolution by May 2017). We will discuss our experiences at Dartmouth and how the movement grew beyond Dartmouth's campus. Having developed out of a collective effort between undergraduate students, public services and cataloging librarians, faculty and administrators, we will also show a 7-minute video that features interviews with some of the actors in this movement in order to represent as many voices as possible.
Collaborative Cartography: Creating an Asset Map for Student and Community Success
(2017-05-12) Gill, Dragan; Coelho, Laura; Nieves, Amethys
In this workshop participants will learn key steps in creating campus and community asset maps to help discover areas of strength in communities, including resources and various supports. The workshop will address the following: (1) defining the purpose and audience of the map; (2) creating a shared controlled vocabulary across departments and/or disciplines; (3) choosing the appropriate mapping software; and (4) the process of sharing data with the wider world. Learn from our experience in bringing campus and community projects together with the library to create maps that serve multiple purposes, including interactive databases of campus resources and supports, and data analysis platforms to conduct needs based assessments. Rhode Island College’s Learning for Life (L4L) is a project at RIC that links students to a wide range of services, supports, and opportunities for college success. Rhode Island College and the Central Falls School District are partners in The Central Falls/Rhode Island College Innovation Lab (the Innovation Lab). This unique, first-in-the-nation collaboration has the potential to provide a PK-12 and post-secondary urban education model that offers a new paradigm for state and national replication. With the metadata and information management knowledge of the library, we created maps for each project, L4L and the Innovation Lab, built on shared mission, strong collaboration and a focus on leveraging our resources to best serve our students across campus.
Information Literacy and the Special Needs Student
(2017-05-12) Schaffer, Scott
Special needs students are a rapidly increasing component of the student population at colleges and universities across the country. Students with learning disabilities and/or emotional problems present many challenges but also many opportunities in formulating appropriate instruction. Librarians need to carefully plan activities for these students as information literacy and research instruction can prove to be particularly problematic. The presentation will focus on approaches most likely to be beneficial in helping this student population learn effective research skills and understand important concepts in information literacy. Information presented will be gleaned from the presenter's personal experience in working with special needs students, interviews with student accessibility and counseling professionals, and the available professional literature. Some of the issues that will be addressed include: What problems do special needs students commonly encounter in learning about research and information literacy? Should alternatives to the class/group setting be considered? What special adaptations may be necessary given a particular student's needs? Which tools we commonly use in information literacy instruction will be the most useful? How can we establish good relationships and an environment of mutual trust with special needs students? What experts can we consult in designing a positive learning experience? The presentation will include ample time for discussion and questions.
Weathering the Storm: Riding the Waves of an Evolving Profession in Turbulent Times
(2017-05-12) Ditkoff, Jennifer; Dolinger, Elizabeth; Hickey, Patrick; McGarrity, Irene
Librarians are no strangers to re-envisioning themselves. From the closed stacks and “guardians of information” era, to the open learning commons and information desk model, we have evolved as needed to better serve the needs of our communities. As we adapt to changes in technology, information needs, and learning models, we aim to remain viable, maintain sustainable practices, and still feel invigorated by our profession. This can be a struggle given the need to continue some traditional aspects of librarianship, while trying to incorporate innovative information literacy practices, dynamic collection development, and cross-campus collaboration.. Non-library faculty and campus administration often have an “ideal library” in mind that doesn’t necessarily fit with the changing professional identity of some academic librarians. Library faculty often feel a sense of double-consciousness as they are asked to support other faculty, but also engage in their own teaching and scholarship. Additionally, as budgets shrink, it can be difficult to remain optimistic about the viability of the library. However, uncertain budgets, and a rapidly evolving environment has given one library a sense of opportunity and a desire to proactively change their identity on campus. This panel focuses on how library faculty at one public liberal arts institution are working toward reframing themselves, their work, and their library. They will discuss the challenges and benefits of reframing information literacy sessions, and creating and teaching in an Information Studies minor. They will highlight the changes in workload as they looked to new ways of working with campus faculty on information literacy, collection development, and liaison work, and became involved in campus initiatives beyond the library. They will address the challenges and opportunities that arise from using students to staff the library’s information desk and teach database demonstrations in place of librarians. Finally, they will discuss how their identity is evolving to incorporate new Framework principles and what they envision for the future of their library. Attendees of this session will leave with an understanding of the benefits and challenges of changing public service models, liaison roles, and instruction and reference work for library faculty.
The Emergence of the Metadata Cataloger: Are Cataloging and Metadata Two Separate Fields?
(2017-05-12) Turner, Rachel
As a new Librarian straight out of my MSIS program, I am seeing a shift in the idea of what constitutes the position of “Cataloging Librarian.” As a student worker at UT Austin while in library school, and in my current position as Cataloging Librarian at Binghamton University, I have seen in both places a rising discussion of how cataloging should evolve to keep up with the reframing and rebranding that is taking place throughout all aspects of libraries and librarianship. A common answer that seems to be rising is that cataloging is and needs to continue its reframing to include the newer, broader field of metadata. So, we see cataloging practices shifting to include metadata projects such as digitization. The presentation I am proposing would discuss this reframing of cataloging as a merger between the traditional idea of cataloging and the new area of “metadata.” I would like to use the research I have been conducting with a partner for a journal article as the starting point for my presentation. I have recently begun, with a partner, research for an article in which we wanted to explore how difficult it was for college and university affiliated academic libraries to fill advertised cataloging positions. We gathered data on such advertised positions from the years 2014-2016, so we have two years worth of advertisements. Initially we included in our dataset only advertisements that described positions that involved cataloging at least 50% of the time. We tried to create a sizeable dataset from advertisements that included “cataloging” specifically in the title as well. However, in compiling this list and looking at the job descriptions we realized we would not have a large enough dataset for our article unless we included jobs that referenced not only cataloging, but also metadata duties in at least equal measure. Many advertised positions required cataloging and metadata components, leading to the topic of my proposed presentation. I would like to present on how, to keep up with 21st century trends, the field of cataloging is merging with and being folded into the new field of metadata, and how this is causing cataloging jobs to be reframed as well.
Digital Initiatives Bootcamp: Launching Digital Projects at Small Institutions with Limited Resources
(2017-05-12) Bocko, Amy
The modern library has seen a new area of our holdings and collection efforts emerge: unique digital collections. As our users’ needs and fluency with technology have changed, so have our library services and avenues for information delivery. Our users want digital materials at the ready, and they want them now! While our holdings have easily adapted to acquiring additional databases and new ebooks, how do we address the growing need for our unique materials to be digitized? Moreover, how do small, resource strapped institutions fulfill this need? Our directive is clear: our libraries need to commit to digital initiatives programs and must do so in a way that is thoughtful, programmatic and mindful of the library’s resources and mission. In this interactive session, digital projects librarian Amy Bocko will discuss the process of creating two digital initiatives programs from the ground up and successful methods/strategies she’s learned along the way. She will share techniques for effective digital project management and institutional buy-in, and ways to implement existing staffing and resources into new digital workflows. This session will serve as a crash course on launching sustainable library-driven digital projects, regardless of the size or resources of your institution. Amy will discuss outreach efforts, lessons learned and compile useful resources for the budding small-institution digital project manager. Participants will leave with an understanding of how to lay the foundation for a digital initiatives program.
What’s in a Contract? Wordsmithing Service Agreements for Better Outcomes
(2017-05-12) Rodriguez, Michael
As more and more academic libraries outsource technology services and enter into cooperative consortial schemes with other organizations, librarians push into a minefield of contractual negotiations, obligations, and liabilities more complicated and consequential than the typical eresource licenses is. A poorly wordsmithed license may result in loss of access to journals, let's say, whereas becoming entangled in troubled consortia, watching an essential technology go offline during finals week, or getting audited by a vendor without contractual safeguards or recourse can produce much greater financial and administrative burdens. This presentation will deliver a crash course in negotiating service contracts favorable to libraries, focusing on legal terms and implications rather than traditional library clauses such as interlibrary loan or course reserves. Coverage will include contract terms and language to incorporate or avoid, guidance on wordsmithing vendor contracts, and excerpts from real-world contracts that participants will be able to workshop during the session. This engaging interactive session will add value for any librarian, administrator, or technologist who negotiates or manages any contracts of any kind.
Act Like a Librarian, Think Like a Fundraiser
(2017-05-12) Moser, Mary
Do we abandon the core tenets of our profession when we reframe our professional activities through the lens of a fundraiser? How can we reconcile our public service values with the forward-facing self-promotion that accompanies a fundraising mindset? Are we at odds with our profession if we think of ourselves as library promoters, not just service providers? These are some of the questions with which I have wrestled as I have transitioned into a new role at a public university facing a deep budget crisis. What I have realized is that whether or not fundraising is a part of our written job responsibilities, every single employee of a school can be considered a fundraiser on some level--whether it’s by creating transformative experiences that foster an engaged alumni base, contributing meaningfully to students’ academic success and well being, participating in innovative projects that generate positive publicity, or simply by creating a physical environment and policies that allow anyone who walks through the gates of your campus to feel welcomed and supported. I argue that this mindset does not detract from or cheapen our core purpose but rather allows us to hone and sharpen our work by asking the questions, “Why does this matter? What is this for? What difference does this make?” These questions make us sharper and more engaged professionals, more committed to the work that we do, more efficient and effective workers. In this workshop, we will reflect on those very questions: What do we do, really? Why is it important? How can we express that work in ways that are meaningful and exciting to people outside the library? Competition for resources lately has felt like a zero-sum game as libraries are increasingly challenged to explain, clearly and effectively, the difference they make in the lives of their community members and the success of their institutions. The primary purpose of this workshop is to equip attendees with a toolkit that will help them reframe their work in ways that make their impact visible, particularly to those who might ask, “Well, why DO we need libraries anymore, anyway?” This approach does not fundamentally change the work that we do, but it does challenge us to think about how that work is understood by people outside of the library. I will begin this presentation with an activity asking participants to compare the subconscious attitudes we have toward fundraising activities versus our traditional job responsibilities and activities. We will work to align those attitudes more closely as we discuss some opportunities for low-risk fundraising collaborations on campus. Participants will be asked to engage in reflective exercises: they will be asked to identify their core job tasks and reframe them for an “outside the library” audience, and will further practice this task by workshopping their individual professional goals through the lens of a fundraiser. In addition to the reflective exercises, participants will also receive a toolkit of suggested readings, resources, and strategies for engaging with fundraising in their library or on their campus.
Social Justice Partners: A Service Design Toolkit for Library Response to Campus Tensions
(2017-05-12) Bresnahan, Megan; Fowler, Liz; Dhabolt, Kristin
Academic libraries exist at the very center of our campus communities; they are the literal and figurative geographic hearts of our colleges and universities. At our best, libraries aim to provide safe and welcoming spaces, both virtual and physical, for reflection, engagement, critical debate, and learning. This powerful role is both a responsibility and an honor. Libraries should take great care to prepare themselves to respond quickly, appropriately, and firmly in the face of rising anxieties or tensions on our campuses related to racial, cultural, social, or political instability or any local trauma. Recently, the University of New Hampshire- Durham (UNH) Library renewed its commitment to providing a space for discourse and learning and to act as an ally in the face of discrimination, bullying, and intimidation. In order to better prepare the library to activate this commitment in tangible ways following rising tensions, librarians are creating a crisis response plan. Using principles of service design, librarians are investigating the needs of library employees, including student workers, and strategic campus partners to inform their approach. The resulting plan will serve as a guide for supporting all users at UNH, particularly marginalized or vulnerable populations, during times of upheaval. This preparation will position the library as a ready and engaged leader when its services are most needed. Drawing on disaster management literature and service design principles, this project seeks to offer a structure for preparing to provide immediate, compassionate, and well-coordinated support when traumatic events or other upheavals to the campus climate inevitably occur. The presenters will detail the process of developing a “Campus in Crisis” response plan and offer a repurpose-able toolkit for localized applications. Workshop attendees will practice and discuss identifying partners, understanding social justice work in libraries, and examining campus culture.
Hot Topics: Critical information literacy for global citizenship, social justice, and community participation
(2017-05-12) Leahy, Sean; Carbery, Alan; Yacubian, Faith
Justification for embedding information literacy instruction as part of the college curriculum can come in many forms. From responding to the proliferation of unreliable sources of news in hyper-partisan times, to heeding employers’ calls for improved workplace information-seeking skills, to addressing the integral role of information literacy in critical thinking, there are numerous avenues at our disposal when promoting the value of librarian instruction. But, what about the more entrenched social issues that impact our campuses and communities more broadly? What role does information literacy instruction have in addressing long held prejudices? How might it be a component of efforts to expose and redress hidden injustices? Librarians and a faculty member from one small college will discuss new curriculum developed collaboratively on their campus that embeds and advocates information literacy as a means of action against important issues that today’s students are keen to address. In this session, the presenters will discuss the development of an embedded set of instruction sessions that explore information literacy outcomes through a social justice lens, and situate critical information literacy as integral to integrative thinking and interdisciplinary ways of knowing. Emphasis is placed on exploring ways in which students could apply critical awareness to become active, global citizens and make positive change to their communities, through personal and professional choices. A range of topics, rotating and transforming each academic year, are addressed through the lens of informational and professional/disciplinary perspectives. These topics, which will continue to evolve over time, have included the impact of elections on local and professional communities; gender discrimination in professional settings; contemporary social justice movements; and human trafficking. This session will discuss how the presenters have developed adaptable lessons that address these evolving, highly relevant topics through the lens of critical information literacy. The presenters will outline the steps they have taken to meet both the integrative and interdisciplinary needs of the faculty, as well as the information literacy outcomes of the library. In doing so, this presentation will highlight new paths towards meaningful and sustainable models of librarian and faculty collaboration. This session will also illustrate how librarians can expand the scope of information literacy for their students by relying less on ‘library-centric’ instruction. Through guided inquiry and dialogue, students are encouraged to draw connections between available information, their professional/disciplinary expertise, and efforts to remedy various forms of injustice. This method emphasizes the “real world” implications of the skills, practices, and dispositions that librarian instruction seeks to promote.
From the Programmer’s Point of View: Imagining Creative Solutions to Serve our Patrons
(2017-05-12) Cirella, David
When seeking to expand our services and the experiences that we offer to our patrons, librarians have the opportunity to find creative solutions in ways that provide a meaningful improvement and demonstrate an engagement with modern systems. As the shift to exclusively computer-based resources, online channels of communication, and web services continues, the information side of library information science requires that we take up the task of becoming familiar with computer programming, software engineering practices, and data handling in order to provide the best services possible. The need for computer literacy, more specifically how to think programmatically, in all areas of our community is paramount in the face of every conceivable library resource and service converting to or existing exclusively in the digital realm. This need is compounded by the expectation from our patrons that we provide compelling experiences that are competitive with those of the consumer technology that they are exposed to throughout their daily lives. While there is a rich history and fertile ecosystem of library led IT projects, including projects that rival and surpass many commercial offerings, there exists a need for librarians outside of IT roles to wield an understanding of programming and information systems. For many technology-oriented projects librarians have traditionally been faced with two less than ideal options. The first, to shop around for a vendor-supplied but not-quite-perfect product or solution that often includes a high-cost and having to settle on an existing product. The second, to appeal to our institutional or municipal IT departments or other departments with expertise. While both options can and do often work, librarians with programming literacy have the tools needed to forge our own path. The program will look at how librarians can become familiar with different aspects of computer technology from the programmer’s point of view. The results of which can lead to knowing what is possible, knowing how to ask for exactly what we want, and how to take up small scale software development and technology projects. Specifically, small scale custom development allows us to glue together larger systems to better serve the needs of our users while avoiding the high cost, long build times, and the close-but-not-perfect outcomes of other options. A small amount of coding skills and interest in technology coupled with the abundance of programmable platforms can lead to highly customized and engaging experience for our patrons with a relatively low cost and time commitment. In addition to the improved user experience, these types of projects help to reflect our changing profession. The design and implementation of two projects will be explored in detail. These include a standalone Twitter bot incorporating Raspberry Pi hardware, 3D printing, and programming and an online Reserves listing kiosk incorporating programming, iPad hardware, and Google Docs. The common thread is the small amount of programming literacy that allows for the leveraging of larger systems and platforms to rapidly create custom solutions.
Zines as Critical Praxis: Collapsing Discourse Around Who Owns Knowledge, and What It Means to be an Author
(2017-05-12) Veitch, Madeline; Willoughby, Lydia
Zines are low-budget, DIY (do it yourself) texts that are produced beyond mainstream publishing channels. The central premise of zines is that all readers are authors; most zines are motivated by a desire to share information rather than make a profit. Collecting zines and creating zine-related library programming allows librarians to coordinate with the campus community to establish zine-making as a valuable tool in campus discourse. Zine-making collapses barriers among and between learners and teachers, and the use of digital and analog skills. Zines are hands-on, offline, and intimate artifacts in a time when much of our scholarship and discourse is being routed through increasingly and sometimes exclusively digital pathways. This presentation will explore the unique benefits of co-creating zines with readers and authors to extend scholarly and campus conversations that address students’ whole selves. The SUNY New Paltz Zine Library has spent the last two years exploring these issues, both in the classroom setting alongside faculty, and outside of it by working directly with students and campus community members to create zines. Faculty collaborations include zine history lectures and workshops in the women, gender, and sexuality studies department, and workshops with fine arts and english composition classes. Outside of the classroom, we have collaborated with students, faculty, and staff to create zines about self-care, a zine to process reactions to the 2016 elections results, and an internal library zine for which fifty-six library staff members created pages introducing themselves and answering questions about their experiences working at the library. The creation, and the provision of access to zines in college and research library environments is a practice of critical engagement with issues around authorship and authority in academic environments. This presentation address theoretical, practical, and affective pedagogies of zine-making. Participants will leave prepared to start zine-related programming.
Coconino Community College Library Goes Online: Navigating Remixed Professional Identities in a Reimagined Library
(2017-05-12) Faulk, Nick; Pope, Este
In 2010, a community college library in rural Arizona was closed and in its place emerged a reimagined model for library services. The traditional physical library, the print collection, and the library's full staff were replaced with an online library collection, a solo librarian, and a partnership with a local state University library. As this new, online-based library matured, a new relationship with eLearning and an expanded partnership with the University library developed. The first two individuals to serve in this bold new approach to librarianship, Este Pope (2010-2012) and Nick Faulk (2013-2016) share what they learned about establishing and navigating their professional identities both within the academe and in their own lives. Este and Nick will highlight some of the ways working in such an innovative library setting helped to clarify key aspects of their work as librarians, and the impact that the experience had on their professional lives since leaving Coconino. They will touch on both the crisis aspects of working in a setting where funding and support for the library were at stake and transformative aspects that led to expanded academic library services for the community college students along with more direct access to faculty and departments on the small campus. Gaining the knowledge of how institutions operate, working as de facto embedded librarians because of offices in the faculty areas, and serving as both administration and hands-on library support for the college will all be topics for discussion. Este and Nick will provide an overview of the structure of the library and services, will highlight challenges and advantages of the model, and will explain the ways working in this setting transformed their thinking and practice in librarianship.
Getting Past “Post-Truth”: Librarians Respond
(2017-05-12) Gruzynski, Vicki; Potter, Robin; Washington, Madelyn Shackelford; Martin, Rebecca; Bresnahan, Megan
There is concern among librarians that information illiteracy and the rapid spread of false news via social media have changed the information climate considerably, to the point where it feels as though we are witnessing the dawn of the “post-truth” era. Coupled with changing campus climates and a rise in hate crimes post-election, this panel of librarians feels an urgency for librarians to provide support to marginalized students, faculty, and fellow librarians. Librarians dedicate their lives to fostering critical evaluation of information sources through information literacy instruction, collection development, partnerships with campus stakeholders, and many other roles. Librarians are equally dedicated to ensuring access to information, privacy and safety within our spaces. Academic libraries stand poised to lead the way as inclusive and non-partisan, but never neutral, spaces for intellectual freedom on college campuses. In light of the recent election, many librarians are wondering how to ensure we live up to this standard. Though it seems most relevant for this type of work to fall on public service librarians, librarians across departments and at all levels of staff, from technical services to public services and instruction, need to be involved in fostering inclusivity. On this panel, librarians from a wide variety of New England’s institutions of higher education will discuss ways their libraries have mobilized to expand or begin providing programming and other resources to ensure that students, faculty, and staff feel safe, welcome, informed, and adequately represented in their libraries. Panelists will provide examples of positive actions that they, their libraries, and their institutions have taken to address these shifting social climates, with concrete examples of public statements, programming, toolkits, and staff training (among other things). While these actions will be perceived as positive among some members of our academic communities, the panel is also prepared to address the very real negative issues of lack of campus support, negotiating fall out, and both personal and professional burnout. The goal of this panel is to provide attendees with not only why this work is increasingly important, but also concrete examples of what has worked, what has not worked, what we need to do more of moving forward, and what could be adapted for your library more specifically and your campus community more broadly.
OER, copyright and faculty: are academic librarians qualified to support this triptych?
(2017-05-12) Gumb, Lindsey
OER (Open educational resources) is rapidly gaining momentum and recognition in higher education as the cost of textbooks and supplemental learning materials continue to rise. University administrators are realizing the cost-savings impact that OER can have on student enrollment and retention and are encouraging faculty to utilize these free resources in order to help the university stand out among the competition. As a profession, librarians have always collaborated with faculty to assist in locating relevant content for their courses as well as been leaders in open access, so it makes sense that we are being called on to assist in the navigation of these new open waters of OER. A significant challenge exists, however; there is much for those collaborating on OER projects to learn about the ever-changing (and confusing) nuances and ambiguities that accompany copyright law. The notion of copyright cannot be separated from the creation or distribution of OER, especially when faculty are unsure or unaware of the origins of content they wish to include. Copyright infringement is a serious crime, and many academics have a distorted misconception that all educational use is fair use, when in fact, it is not. While academic librarians are taking on additional responsibilities to support and endorse its faculty as consumers and creators of this OER, are they actually qualified to do so without formal training and support? To make waters muddier, many universities lack institutional copyright policies, leaving librarians in the dark with no clear guidelines other than their own interpretation of the law. Even for the few individuals that have had some level of training in copyright, navigating and applying the law when assisting faculty with OER can be a daunting and labor-intensive task. Session participants will gain a better understanding of the the OER movement, how copyright works in academia, and suggestions for obtaining support and training. This session will be informational as well as interactive, with embedded PollEverywhere questions for the audience to be active participants throughout.
Collaborative Outreach: How to Fit the Library into the Schedules of Over-Scheduled Students
(2017-05-12) Macfarlane, Carrie M.; Bertolini, Mary Ellen; Frazier, Amy; Davy, Jerrica
“I wish I had known about this sooner!” Librarians hear that exclamation all too often when we tell students about research assistance and library resources. Research and critical thinking skills are essential in today’s information-rich world, yet many students have to develop these skills on their own. They must learn to navigate their options with minimal guidance. Unfortunately, this often means wasted time, missed opportunities, and frustration. How can librarians reach students before the frustration begins? At a school like Middlebury, where information literacy instruction is not part of the curriculum, we have to be creative. We are competing with many other attention-getters: there are over 150 student organizations, and only about 2,500 students to join them. Twenty-seven percent of our students participate in varsity sports, and many more participate in intramurals and clubs. Not to mention the coursework. As an indicator of Middlebury’s high academic expectations, in 2014 nearly fifteen percent of Middlebury students undertook a joint or double major, and sixty-two percent of graduating seniors planned to enter a graduate program. Middlebury students are driven and ambitious, and they feel they have little “extra” time to devote to perfecting their research skills. To meet these challenges, we have reframed some of the work we do as librarians. In addition to traditional, course-related outreach to faculty, we now work with allies who help us succeed in our outreach to students. The Writing Center is closely aligned with the library in terms of mission and location. Not only do they support students working on research papers, but they also are housed in the Library. We have collaborated with them for many years, and our relationship has grown stronger over time. We provide library research training to Peer Writing Tutors every semester, and recently we have begun co-sponsoring a college Write-In. In addition, we hosted a series of strategic conversations last year which resulted in new ideas for collaboration that we will explore in the future. Research training for Peer Writing Tutors emphasizes the work we have in common: librarians and Peer Writing Tutors help students in different stages of the research and writing process. The training is one segment of a six-week program for new and returning tutors, and the Library pays for the tutors’ time. We use a discussion-based format to show tutors why, when and how to make referrals to librarians, and how to use the library for their own research. The Write-In is a social event designed to support and encourage students through the often-stressful process of researching and writing final papers. This lively, example-based presentation will be led by two librarians, the Director of the Writing Center, and a Peer Writing Tutor. We’ll describe what we do and why, what the response has been, and how our approaches have changed over time. Audience members will learn about the ways in which a library can partner with a writing center, the benefits of partnership,the drawbacks and challenges, what’s required, and potential next steps.
Adapting a New Model for Library Orientation: the Clinical Case Presentation
(2017-05-12) Bianchi, Nancy; Atwood, Gary
Every summer, new pediatric residents enter postgraduate medical training at the University of Vermont Medical Center. An introduction to the Dana Medical Library has been a long-standing orientation activity for these new residents. In the past, this hour long orientation consisted of a lecture outlining library resources, services, and policies followed by a tour of the physical space. Observations of this traditional orientation, however, revealed bored-looking, unengaged residents, who even questioned the usefulness of this scheduled library session. After thoughtful consideration and discussion among librarians, we concluded that this was probably due to the passive nature of these activities, and the fact that residents were simultaneously being overwhelmed with new and more vital clinical and administrative responsibilities at the medical center. And, we also knew that something had to change about our approach to library orientation, or we were going to turn off a new generation of young physicians to the library. Internet resources like Google and point-of-care clinical tools like UpToDate have become strong competitors for residents’ precious time and limited level of expertise in using the literature. So, this year, the library orientation for new pediatric residents was completely redesigned. After drawing on her personal experience as a clinical librarian in medicine, the pediatrics liaison librarian explored the idea of adapting the Patient Case Presentation model to a library orientation. Clinical Case Presentation is a very familiar presentation format in residency programs. Its format offers a rapid and concise summary of the most essential patient information and is used primarily in clinical settings and at educational conferences. Since the style of case presentations may vary depending on the clinical setting, service, and time available, the pediatrics liaison librarian saw this as a perfect opportunity to orient new residents to the library using their own presentation format and terminology. The remodeled library orientation consisted of an interactive case presentation about a pediatric resident with a clinical information need, followed by a brief didactic session on library resources and services relevant to the specific information need. The case and teaching session were both presented by the liaison librarian with the assistance of the pediatric chief resident, serving as her scribe. Besides the specific questions that were “planted” among the residents and medical students, audience participation was strongly encouraged, especially during the review of information systems section of the presentation. With the unexpected success of this orientation activity, we hope to have the opportunity at the ACRL-NEC Conference to demonstrate and describe for a wider audience how we took an outdated library orientation activity and completely transformed it. Hopefully, our presentation will give other librarians the motivation and the encouragement to explore new teaching and learning formats in their own liaison areas and to adapt those models to library education and orientation activities, just as we did with the Case Presentation format in a pediatric residency program.
Shifting Frames: Creative Collaborations at the Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy
(2017-05-12) DeFelice, Barbara; Barrett, Laura
Building on the framework presented in the ACRL Whitepaper “Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy”, librarians in different roles at Dartmouth have forged connections among the experiential learning and scholarly communication conversations campus-wide. This is most evident in programs that include new ways of teaching copyright, outreach around the Dartmouth Faculty Open Access Policy, and an Experiential Learning Initiative grant which furthers our work with students involved in different kinds of publishing activities. Through these programs, the Library is integrated into the key goals of the institution to forward teaching, learning, scholarship, and research. Learn how we built bridges across seemingly disparate Library and campus institutional units with compelling programs that involve key stakeholders. We will briefly discuss a few of these programs, including our successes and setbacks. After each program is described, we’ll engage the audience members in a discussion of what is happening or what might happen in their institutions in that area. The participants will share ideas with each other for applying the lessons learned to their own situations, and start developing their own creative collaborations. We’ll wind up the session with discussion and feedback on these ideas. Through examples, stories, conversations, and brainstorms, this interactive session will inspire audience members to start or forward their own creative collaborations around information literacy and scholarly communication, no matter what their role in their institutions.
Data Management: Tailoring the Message
(2017-05-12) Condon, Patricia
In this presentation, Patti Condon discusses how we, as information professionals, can tailor our messages to be more effective when we talk to researchers and students about data management. We are seeing the library take on larger roles in data services evidenced by hiring new positions to meet the emerging data needs of our users. In many cases, however, responsibilities for working with researchers and students on areas related to data services are increasingly being added to the mounting duties of librarians who serve in liaison roles, scholarly communication librarians, or science librarians. Effectively framing conversations around data services topics can be challenging not only because it may not be a librarian’s primary field of practice, but because disciplines engage uniquely with data, researchers often interact with data differently than information professionals, the landscape of this field of practice is developing rapidly, and finding the point-of-need for data management instruction is difficult. This presentation explores the ways in which librarians, archivists, and other information professionals responsible for data services in their workplace can engage with researchers and students about data management and related topics. By tailoring our messages about data management in ways that are meaningful to our audience, the information we communicate will be more useful and impactful. Condon examines data management in terms of preservation and access, compliance, responsible conduct of research, and sharing and open data. In doing so, she also considers approaches to instruction, and identifies effective ways to present information on research guides. Examples and cases come from her own experience and research, and the growing body of literature in the area of data management. Sharing from the audience will be welcomed.
Evidence-based librarianship: Methods for researching user experience
(2017-05-12) Crist, Emily; Carbery, Alan
Designing experiences for library users requires an understanding of the people, as well as the situations involved in those experiences. When developing library services, this understanding is important in order to consider how the services can fit within constituents’ practices, how they can complement existing user workflows and learning strategies, and how they can reflect and build on their users’ identities. A data-driven, evidence-based approach to librarianship is becoming increasingly important. Additionally, libraries are increasingly tasked with demonstrating their impact and contributions towards institutional priorities in the wider higher education landscape. To that end, the presenters’ institute created a unique position -- the Experience Design Librarian -- to take a targeted approach to designing, delivering and assessing meaningful user experiences. This position also explores connections between library usage and academic success measures such as retention, achievement and graduation rates, all in an attempt to deliver human-centered library experiences. This interactive workshop will highlight three user experience research techniques that the presenters have begun to implement -- cognitive mapping, cultural probes, and observational studies. These approaches are all based in ethnographic research methodologies. A quick and interactive exercise, cognitive mapping involves asking users to draw mental representations of an environment to uncover their perceptions of it, as well as their habits and patterns of use and non-use in relation to the space. Cultural probes consist of a packet or kit given to participants to interact with the artifacts within as a method of data collection to understand their needs and behaviors. This method encourages participant engagement and explores unanticipated uses that the researcher may not have considered. Observational studies involve the researcher observing and recording the locations, movements and behaviors of people or items to uncover the usage habits and patterns within a space. These three techniques can be easily modified and incorporated in the libraries of conference attendees to help gather data around the experiences and practices of their users. The presenters will explain the three techniques along with their experiences of them before facilitating attendees in practice and discussion of the techniques. Upon completion of this session, conference attendees can expect to be able to incorporate these techniques in their own libraries. We argue that libraries can and should consider implementing user-experience data collection techniques to inform decision-making and practice in order to help focus services around the actual needs of users.

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