New SAA Book: Appraisal and Acquisition Strategies

Edited by Michael J Shallcross & Christopher J. Prom; featuring modules by Megan Barnard , Erin E Faulder , Geoffrey A. Huth  and Gabriela Redwine

Appraisal and Acquisition Strategies is another installment in the series Trends in Archives Practice and consists of the following three modules:

  • Module 14: Appraising Digital Records
    by Geof Huth
    Provides practical tools and resources for conducting and documenting an appraisal of digital records.
  • Module 15: Collecting Digital Manuscripts and Archives
    by Megan Barnard and Gabriela Redwine
    Demonstrates how to integrate digital archives and manuscripts into collection development policies and strategies, build strong relationships with creators and colleagues, appraise born-digital materials prior to an acquisition, and prepare for the challenges of collecting digital manuscripts and archives.
  • Module 15: Accessioning Digital Archives
    by Erin Faulder
    Presents digital preservation best practices and standards for developing policies, procedures, and infrastructure to accession born-digital materials.

As Michael Shallcross of the Bentley Historical Library notes in the introduction, “an essential point in each module is the continuity of practice between the acquisition of traditional materials and digital content. The differences lie in the skills, knowledge, and tools required to identify potential preservation and access issues.” These modules cover that and more.

Recent Issue: The Australian Library Journal

This title isn’t on the journal list I maintain, but they recently had a special issue titled: The Library–Archive Confluence: The eScholarship Research Centre, University of Melbourne.

From Ross Harvey’s introduction: “This theme issue of the Australian Library Journal has the title The Library–Archive Confluence: The eScholarship Research Centre, University of Melbourne. I have long held the view that librarians have much to learn from archival theory and practice – a view that holds greater currency as both segments of the information profession strive to develop new ways of working to manage digital materials. Consequently, I am delighted that the nine articles in this issue explore archival practice as exemplified in the activities of the eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) at the University of Melbourne. The ESRC is unusual in that it is a research centre embedded in a library and, as such, its activities will command the interest of the Journal’s primary readership.”

Editorial
Ross Harvey

Articles

The eScholarship Research Centre: working with knowledge in the twenty-first century
Gavin McCarthy, Helen Morgan, Elizabeth Daniels

Better together: the ESRC in the university research library of the twenty-first century
Teresa Chitty, Donna McRostie

The Australian Women’s Register and the case of the missing apostrophe; or, how we learnt to stop worrying and love librarians
Nikki Henningham, Helen Morgan

Forgotten Australians in the library: resources relating to Care Leavers in Australian libraries
Cate O’Neill

The Encyclopedia of Australian Science: a virtual meeting of archives and libraries
Ailie Smith, Gavan McCarthy

Managing and mapping the history of collecting indigenous human remains
Paul Turnbull

Documenting things: bringing archival thinking to interdisciplinary collaborations
Michael Jones

Pathways, parallels and pitfalls: the Scholarly Web, the ESRC and Linked Open Data
Antonia Lewis, Peter Neish

Other

Selected publications of the Australian Science Archives Project, Austehc and the ESRC (The University of Melbourne) 1985–2015
Gavan McCarthy, Elizabeth Daniels

Which Comes First, Research or Writing?

As I write the reference book, I continually have the conundrum compared to the which came first, the chicken or the egg. In this case, it’s the research or the writing.

Reference and access is a large part of my daily duties, as with many archivists. It comes naturally to me, and I have my routine to provide good reference and customer service. When I agreed to write this book I thought “Great! I get to write about what I do every day.” Because reference is one of my favorite parts of my job, I initially thought it would be easy. Not that writing an entire book is easy, but I already have solid knowledge about reference and access.

What I’ve discovered, not completely unsurprisingly, is that it’s easy to write about what my staff and I do every day, but that doesn’t mean it encompasses all aspects of reference and access. I knew that I’d do extensive research to make sure I address all types of institutions, practices, policies, history, context, etc. The research is crucial also to provide resources to archivists who want to learn more about specific aspects, as well as demonstrate developments and foundations of reference.

On the one hand, I can easily make notes and outlines about what each book section/topic needs, but on the other hand I need to read what is the vast amount of literature out there for citations. So I find myself again in the same place as when I wrote my dissertation – where to stop researching and write, or do I just write and fill in with research.

Truly, it’s best to go back and forth; do some research and write about it, then write about your ideas and find the research to go with it. I love doing research. Searching through databases, reading footnotes to find more literature, exploring the non-archival writing to see how others use/view archives, and reading what I find. I especially love learning – how reference evolved through history, how different institutions provide services, ideas for outreach, and I even enjoy reading policy manuals. Some of this is not just for the book but also how I can improve and evolve services at my own institution.

I really enjoy writing as well, but that of course is much harder. Sometimes the thoughts are there but don’t come out. When I’m on a good writing spree, I just let the thoughts flow. It can be harder to find literature to justify what I wrote, but I also do not need a citation for every single sentence or idea. I know I have something to say, and I will say it so that readers can use, interpret, and reconfigure the content to best serve their needs.

I see this struggle in many people that I talk to and article submissions I read: too much research without enough analysis or interpretation. We are all adept and finding information, so we don’t need just the references, but why that literature matters. In the case of this book, I don’t need to make an argument for reference and access, but instead provide a wide array of concepts, theories, policies, and practices so anyone who reads the book is able to find something that will help with their job or possibly for future scholarship.

So, there is no one solution of which to do first – research or writing. But it is important to not get too caught up in the research so that the writing doesn’t happen. Currently, I’m at a point where I need to step away from the research for a while and just write. I have a lot of notes, quotes, and so far 263 citations in 71 pages. Likely, some of those will be removed, combined, or moved to “works consulted,” and I want to make sure they don’t disrupt the reading. Writing should reflect the author’s thoughts and ideas, and the research is to enhance them and provide further reading. So here goes!

New Issue: SLIS Connecting

Volume 5, Issue 1, 2016

Columns

SLIS Director’s Update
Teresa S. Welsh Ph.D., MLIS

Spotlights: Faculty, Alum, and Courses
Stacy Creel

From the GAs, Congratulations, Publications, Presentations
Teresa S. Welsh Ph.D., MLIS

Student Associations News and Events
Teresa S. Welsh Ph.D., MLIS

Graphic Novels, Comics, Manga, & Anime
Stacy Creel

In the Trenches: A Comparison of Public Children’s Librarianship and School Librarianship
Lindsey Miller Beck

Young Adult Literature: The State of a Restless Art
Michael Cart

Articles

Teen Tested: The State of YA Services in America’s Public Libraries
James Pinkard

Reading Materials and Reading Trends of Youth Incarcerated in Mississippi’s State-Run Training School
Rodney M. Ashmore

Assessing the High School Graphic Novel Collections in Northeast Mississippi High Schools: A Collection Analysis
Nicole Minor

Reluctant Readers: An Analysis of Educational and LIS Literature from 1993-2013
Kelli Bennett

Full Issue

SLIS Connecting, Volume 5, Issue 1
Stacy Creel and Teresa S. Welsh Ph.D., MLIS

SAA Book Publishing Survey Results

Last spring the Publications Board conducted a survey to assess members’ needs to strategize the future of publications. This survey assessed topics of interest, as well as how members want to receive and read books. The latest issue of Archival Outlook has an article describing the results of the survey. About 1,600 people responded, and the results are quite interesting. SAA book publications are important not just to advance the profession, but to help fund the organization. As the article states, “Books published by SAA help our members increase their sum of professional knowledge and to partake in a shared vision for archival practice.”

Ebooks have been a bit slow to take off in the profession, but is likely to grow over the next few years; more than half indicated they prefer print but close to half predicted they would access an ebook in the future. Personally, I like both. Ebooks allow me to search and sometimes I find it easier to use them when I’m writing. I can copy/paste quotes, and also don’t need to balance a book and my laptop while reclining comfortably on my couch. However, I still like seeing them on my bookshelf and find it easier to quick grab a book to look something up or hand it to an intern or staff member to read.

More than half indicated interest in a subscription model, which I’m intrigued by. I like the idea of being able to search across publications and easily access literature. For me it would serve a dual purpose: quickly finding multiple sources for answers, as well as the ability to read/review books prior to purchasing. And, of course, fewer books to check out from the library or order through interlibrary loan.

As a current book author, I constantly think about what information archivists need to grow in their jobs and how my book will be used. Reference, access and outreach ranked 5th out of the 10 topics assessed. However, my interpretation is that topics ranked higher – digital records/digitization, arrangement and description, preservation and conservation – all lead to access. While my book will not go in-depth about those areas, I discuss them in relation to reference and access.

I look forward to seeing how SAA publications evolve and develop based on this survey.

Writing Progress

I recently received feedback on my reference and access book draft. A previous post describes my writing process, and of course several times I’ve mentioned the importance of feedback. The notes I received are extremely helpful, as there are thoughts, questions, and suggestions that never crossed my mind but once I read them, make perfect sense.

Naturally, some are easy fixes and some require more thought and/or research. As a pretty scattered writer, meaning I jump from section to section, I expect that makes it difficult for the reader. I think frequently about the book’s organization. The aspects of reference and access overlap continually, and at times it’s difficult to sort out which points should go where. I also make a lot of notes about ideas and thoughts, and even questions about what should be included, what requires more in-depth discussion versus making a reference and referring to other literature.

Feedback is not a reader stating do-this or do-that and the writer complying. It’s a conversation about how to develop, organize, expand, eliminate, cite, reference, discuss, and write. That conversation leads to the writer achieving a better understanding on how the text is read and interpreted, as well as the reader gaining a better understanding of the writer’s goals and thought processes.

For me, this conversation increases my motivation. Notes and feedback provide clarity in my mind about how to proceed and if I’m on the right track. I’ve spent the past few days reviewing the comments, rewriting, reorganizing, and rethinking. And all this has now led to a milestone – 25,000 words (about 65 pages). While I still have a long way to go, I see what I’ve accomplished so far.

And writing is about accomplishments: the first page, first chapter, first draft, first feedback, etc. So as you write, don’t just think about where you need to go, think about what you already achieved.

CFP: RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Cultural Heritage

The Fall 2016 issue of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Cultural Heritage is still in-process, but it’s already time for me to start nudging you for Spring 2017. There’s no special theme for this issue, so we’ll take a look at everything (within reason). Here’s a link to the type of content we usually include, in case that’s helpful: http://rbm.acrl.org/site/misc/about.xhtml. Please remember that our journal isn’t just restricted to rare books–we’re interested in content related to working in and with all sorts of cultural heritage collections.

We always need time to peer review and request revisions if necessary, so I’m setting the deadline for the spring issue as the beginning of January. If you have any questions along the way, please don’t hesitate to ask. You can email your submissions and/or questions to me atjsheehan@grolierclub.org.

I hope to see lots of interesting content coming our way. I know that there’s plenty of great research, writing, and exploration going on out there, and I hope you’ll consider sending some of it RBM‘s way.

Jennifer K. Sheehan, Ph.D.
Editor, RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Cultural Heritage
Exhibitions Manager
The Grolier Club
47 East 60th Street
New York, NY  10022
phone: 212/838-6690 ext. 2

New Book: Critical Library Pedagogy

ACRL published a two-volume set, Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook. While it is library-focused, there are some chapters written by archivists. Although I have not read it, I expect some of the library instruction techniques can be applied to archival instruction.

Critical pedagogy incorporates inclusive and reflective teaching for aims of social justice; it provides mechanisms for students to evaluate their social, political, and economic standing, and to question societal norms and how these norms perpetuate societal injustices. Teaching librarians have long incorporated social justice into their work, but focused interest in critical library pedagogy has grown rapidly in recent years.

In two volumes, the Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook works to make critical pedagogy more accessible for library educators, examining both theory and practice to help the busy practitioner explore various aspects of teaching for social justice.

Volume One, Essays and Workbook Activities, provides short essays reflecting on personal practice, describing projects, and exploring major ideas to provide inspiration as you begin or renew your exploration of critical pedagogy. The bibliography of each chapter provides a network of other sources to explore, and the volume closes with a selection of workbook activities to improve on your own practice and understanding of critical pedagogy.

Volume Two, Lesson Plans, provides plans covering everything from small activities to multi-session projects. Critical pedagogy requires collaborating with learners and adapting to their needs, as well as continual reflection, but these lessons provide elements you can pull and tweak to fit your own environment. These chapters also provide 30 different views on creating and delivering critically designed information literacy instruction and reflect material commonly requested by faculty—including introductions to databases, evaluating information sources, and the research cycle.

These two volumes provide a collection of ideas, best practices, and plans that contribute to the richness of what it means to do this type of work in libraries. The Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook will help you build personal teaching skills and identity, cultivate local community, and document your journey as a critical practitioner.

Table of Contents

VOLUME 1

 

Foreword
James Elmborg

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Nicole Pagowsky and Kelly McElroy

Chapter 1. Falling out of Praxis: Reflection as a Pedagogical Habit of Mind
Heidi LM Jacobs

Chapter 2. Learning from Teaching: A Dialogue of Risk and Reflection
Anne Jumonville Graf

Chapter 3. How Unplanned Events Can Sharpen the Critical Focus in Information Literacy Instruction
Ian Beilin

Chapter 4. “Taking Back” Information Literacy: Time and the One-Shot in the Neoliberal University
Karen P. Nicholson

Chapter 5. At Odds with Assessment: Being a Critical Educator within the Academy
Carolyn Caffrey Gardner and Rebecca Halpern

Chapter 6. What Standards Do and What They Don’t
Emily Drabinski and Meghan Sitar

Chapter 7. Barriers to Critical Pedagogy in Information Literacy Teaching
Gr Keer

Chapter 8. Loading Examples to Further Human Rights Education
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

Chapter 9. Social Constructivism and Critical Information Literacy
Jessica Critten and Andrea G. Stanfield

Chapter 10. Finding and Analyzing Information for Action and Reflection: Possibilities and Limitations of Popular Education in One-Shot Library Instruction
Kenny Garcia

Chapter 11. Collaborative Pedagogies: LIS Courses and Public Library Partnerships
Jessica Hochman

Chapter 12. What Is Possible: Setting the Stage for Co-Exploration in Archives and Special Collections
Patrick Williams

Chapter 13. Of the People, by the People, for the People: Critical Pedagogy and Government Information
Melanie Maksin

Chapter 14. The Failed Pedagogy of Punishment: Moving Discussions of Plagiarism beyond Detection and Discipline
Kevin P. Seeber

Chapter 15. Queering Library Instruction for Composition: Embracing the Failure
Ashley P. Ireland

Chapter 16. Search and Destroy: Punk Rock Tactics for Library Instruction
Caitlin Shanley and Laura Chance

Chapter 17. Cultivating a Mind of One’s Own: Drawing on Critical Information Literacy and Liberal Education
Elizabeth Galoozis and Caro Pinto

Chapter 18. Reflections on the Retention Narrative: Extending Critical Pedagogy beyond the Classroom
Alison Hicks and Caroline Sinkinson

Chapter 19. We Don’t Count: The Invisibility of Teaching Librarians in Statistics on Academic Instructional Labor
Aliqae Geraci

Chapter 20. Leave Your “Expert” Hat at the Door: Embracing Critical Pedagogy to Create a Community of Librarian Learners
Marisol Ramos, Dawn Cadogan, Sharon Giovenale, Kathleen R. Labadorf, and Jennifer Snow

Chapter 21. Starting Small: Practicing Critical Pedagogy through Collective Conversation
Megan Watson and Dave Ellenwood

Chapter 22. Developing a “Critical Pedagogy Disposition”
Donna Witek

Chapter 23. Resistance Is Fertile: (Or Everything I Know about Teaching I Learned in Yoga Class)
Robert Schroeder

Chapter 24. Using Personal Reflection to Incorporate Antiracist Pedagogy in Library Instruction
Melissa Kalpin Prescott

Chapter 25. Critical Self-Reflection: Moving Inward to Provide Outward Service
Xan Goodman

Chapter 26. Carrots in the Brownies: Incorporating Critical Librarianship in Unlikely Places
Maura Seale

Chapter 27. Fresh Techniques: Getting Ready to Use Hip Hop in the Classroom
Danielle Rowland

Chapter 28. Course Materials: Reinforcing Dominant Narratives or Challenging Mindsets
Elizabeth Mens

Chapter 29. Information Worlds and You: Harnessing Theory for Instruction
Julia Skinner

Chapter 30. Documenting Your Critical Journey
Nicole A. Cooke

About the Authors

VOLUME 2

Table of Contents

Foreword
Safiya Umoja Noble

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Nicole Pagowsky and Kelly McElroy

Chapter 1. Mapping Power and Privilege in Scholarly Conversations
Lauren Wallis

Chapter 2. Moving Students to the Center through Collaborative Documents in the Classroom
Maura A. Smale and Stephen Francoeur

Chapter 3. Deconstructing Gender in Financial Literacy
Fobazi M. Ettarh

Chapter 4. Question Authority and Be an Authority: The Future Belongs to Us
Romel Espinel

Chapter 5. Podcasting as Pedagogy
Nora Almeida

Chapter 6. Speaking Up: Using Feminist Pedagogy to Raise Critical Questions in the Information Literacy Classroom
Sharon Ladenson

Chapter 7. Authority and Source Evaluation in the Critical Library Classroom
Eamon Tewell and Katelyn Angell

Chapter 8. Critical Pedagogy and the Information Cycle: A Practical Application
Gina Schlesselman-Tarango and Frances Suderman

Chapter 9. Critical Engagement with Numbers and Images
Christine Photinos

Chapter 10. Critical Consciousness and Search: An Introductory Visualization
Sarah Polkinghorne

Chapter 11. Googling Google: Search Engines as Market Actors in Library Instruction
Jacob Berg

Chapter 12. Zines as Primary Sources
Kelly Wooten

Chapter 13. Teaching with Riot Grrrl: An Active Learning Session at the Intersections of Authenticity and Social Justice
Amy Gilgan

Chapter 14. Using Pop Culture, Feminist Pedagogy, and Current Events to Help Students Explore Multiple Sides of an Argument
Dory Cochran

Chapter 15. Zines in the Classroom: Critical Librarianship and Participatory Collections
Robin Potter and Alycia Sellie

Chapter 16. Where Should These Books Go?
Haruko Yamauchi

Chapter 17. Questioning Health Sciences Authority
Xan Goodman

Chapter 18. Critical Pedagogy for Business and Management Undergraduates: Evaluation of Marketing Information
Ilana Stonebraker, Caitlan Maxwell, and Jessica Jerrit

Chapter 19. Teaching with Data: Visualization and Information as a Critical Process
Andrew Battista and Jill Conte

Chapter 20. From Traditional to Critical: Highlighting Issues of Injustice and Discrimination through Primary Sources
Alan Carbery and Sean Leahy

Chapter 21. My Primary Sources: Using Student Personal History as a Gateway to Historical Context
Margaret Browndorf

Chapter 22. Historical Newspapers and Critical Thinking: A Lesson Plan
Gina Levitan

Chapter 23. Thinking through Visualizations: Critical Data Literacy Using Remittances
Erin Pappas, Celia Emmelhainz, and Maura Seale

Chapter 24. Critically Reflective Final Exercise
Angela Pashia

Chapter 25. Fresh Techniques: Hip Hop and Library Research
Dave Ellenwood and Alyssa Berger

Chapter 26. Social Justify Your Lesson Plan: How to Use Social Media to Make Pop Culture Scholarly
Lydia Willoughby and Kelly Blanchat

Chapter 27. Zotero: A Tool for Constructionist Learning in Critical Information Literacy
Joshua F. Beatty

Chapter 28. Ten-Minute Brainstorm in a First-Year English One-Off
Jenna Freedman

Chapter 29. How to Get to the Library from Here, There, and Everywhere!
Jolanda-Pieta (Joey) van Arnhem

Chapter 30. Incorporating Critically Conscious Assessment into a Large-Scale Information Literacy Program
Rachel Gammons

CFP: Histories of Digital Labor, Past and Present (edited collection)

An non-archives publishing opportunity that welcomes “archival work” as one possible method.

CFP: Histories of Digital Labor, Past and Present (edited collection)

250-300 word abstracts due January 31, 2017 (submit here)
6,000-word essays due June 30, 2017
Full CFP here: http://oncomouse.github.io/digital-labor-cfp

Recent attempts to rewrite dominant accounts of technological progress, including the annual Ada Lovelace Day and Hidden Figures—the upcoming film about African-American women’s achievements in NASA—have drawn attention to the unknown histories lurking behind our digital present. This edited collection will not only continue to uncover such occluded histories, but also will interrogate our definitions of and assumptions about labor, effort, merit, and reward structures as they relate to new digital conditions of work. Who does the labor, what kind of labor is it, and what were the conditions of that labor? How was that labor attributed (or not), compensated (or not), rewarded (or not), and remembered (or not)?

Mythic visions of STEM history in the digital tend to reinscribe the great men narrative models of the past, but how do we imagine histories of the digital that tell stories closer to the actual work of making these myths? As McKenzie Wark asks in Molecular Red, “[W]hat in these times is labor? Can a concept of labor include scientific labor, reproductive labor, affective labor, precarious labor, even non-labor?” (120). As technological apparatuses come to constitute more and more of the scene of labor, how has this transition influenced our accounts of labor (and for better or worse)?

Submissions may draw from any historical period as long as a persuasive link is made to the specifically digital technologies we use today. Reconfiguring these narratives may involve exploring one of many sites of technological labor: the laboratory, the factory, the office, the library, the makerspace, the classroom, the personal computer, the living room, the garage. We welcome a variety of methods (such as oral history, close reading, archival work, quantitative analysis, ethnography, or material/visual cultural analysis) and disciplinary approaches from the humanities and social sciences. Papers whose style and content reaches across disciplines and audiences—rather than attempt to make very specific disciplinary interventions—are especially desirable.

What matters most is that each submission reconstructs a compelling narrative of occluded labor and allows that narrative to generate a new definition or approach to work in the digital age. We have already begun communicating with a prominent publisher and anticipate moving swiftly once full drafts are received.

For inquiries, please email both Andrew Pilsch (apilsch@tamu.edu) and Shawna Ross (shawnaross@tamu.edu) or tweet (@oncomouse and @ShawnaRoss).

Submit 250-300 word abstracts, short bio, and contact information via GoogleForms by January 31, 2017. Authors can expect to hear back from the editors by the end of February 2017.

New Issue: Journal of Documentation

Abstracts are available; accessible by subscription or pay; see a list of databases where it is indexed and/or abstracted. Note: not all articles are archives-related, but a few may have information or techniques that can be applied; and there is an article by Alex H. Poole about digital curation.

Pictorial metaphors for information
Jenna Hartel and Reijo Savolainen

To document the undocumentable
Ulrika Kjellman

Perceived self-efficacy and interactive video retrieval
Dan Albertson and Boryung Ju

Towards global music digital libraries
Xiao Hu and Jin Ha Lee

The construct validity of the h-index
Cameron Stewart Barnes

Using the domain analytical approach in the study of information practices in biomedicine
Annikki Roos and Turid Hedlund

Nanook of the North (USA, 1922/1947/1976/1998) and film exhibition in the classical silent era
Roswitha Skare

Information in the knowledge acquisition process
Boris Bosancic

The conceptual landscape of digital curation
Alex H. Poole