OJS at Oregondigital.org (Oregon State University / University of Oregon)
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A New Use for the Makerspace
Get PDFIf you want to elicit a groan and an eye roll from almost anyone in the field of education, you need only whisper two words: test prep. Standardized testing is a reality across the country, but even for those who can see its value, the testing is time consuming and can be soul-crushing for teachers and students.
At Warrenton Grade School, a Makerspace was established at the end of last year as a way to create opportunities for hands-on learning. It is housed in the art room, and teachers can bring their classes to work on projects. With this space available, we decided to bundle SBAC Test Prep with fun projects that keep the curriculum hands-on and simultaneously help students build background knowledge for performance tasks they will face
Community Needs-Based Planning for Rural Library Success
Get PDFI am a librarian from rural southern Oregon, and my community is a stereotype. NPR correspondent Jeff Brady visited our town during the summer of 2017 for a story highlighting rural communities in decline (Brady, 2017). We were a convenient case study. Our natural resource industry has been dying a slow and loud death for decades, our voters have notoriously voted down numerous tax levies, and Jeff Brady just happened to grow up here. Brady being a national business correspondent from Philadelphia, we were the perfect stereotype for a piece that closed with his grim statement: “Overall, the economic prospects for my hometown of Gold Beach, Oregon, look dim. Fortunately there’s always the beautiful beach, the river, and the forests to console those who still live here.” Despite the inevitable feeling of this conclusion, Brady could have asked much different questions and listened to different voices that would have resulted in a story about much more than malaise. In fact, when presented with innovative changes taking place, Brady commented to our library staff that a storyline of innovative change in its early stages would not help NPR make the point their audience wanted to hear.
I start with this story because librarians are extremely susceptible to the very mistake made by this NPR correspondent. We see what we want to see, and the decisions that follow (particularly in small rural communities) are more often than not rejected by the community because they do not truly address immediate needs. As for that Southern Oregon stereotype, our voters certainly fit the stereotype of being skeptical of paying taxes, but few taxpayers I have encountered are unwilling to pay taxes when the government entity in question has proven to be successful in addressing what they perceive as community needs. Working with this model, I believe Gold Beach is in the early phases of a renaissance rooted in the library’s community needs-based planning. Here is our story
Beyond the Nubian Gold: Meroitic Beads between the Fifth and Sixth Nile Cataracts
Get PDFMore than 2,300 beads and pendants were excavated from 16 graves at the Berber Meroitic cemetery (BMC) during the 2009-2013 seasons. The site lies between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts, some 150 km north of the kingdom’s capital, Meroe. The cemetery has been dated to between the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century AD. Next to some ostrich-eggshell, stone, and silver beads and pendants, faience, glass, and metal-in-glass dominate the bead assemblage, with the latter type (gold-in-glass and silver-in-glass beads) constituting a quarter of the finds. Some of the metal-in-glass specimens belong to one of the most sophisticated bead types, being decorated with an impressed lozenge motif on one side and the figurative motif of Harpocrates on the other. In general, the diversity of bead types makes the Berber assemblage comparable to other Meroitic collections from Lower Nubia to the north and from the Meroe royal cemetery to the south. It also contributes new bead types to Meroitic beadwork
Overcoming Isolation as a Form of Leadership
Get PDFWorking in the technical services department of a small academic library is a bit of an isolation double-whammy: not only are you more removed from the patrons you serve than are your public-facing counterparts, you may also be a department of one and solely responsible for discharging a highly specialized set of duties. This has been the case for me since 2015 when I moved to Oregon after accepting the position of Acquisitions Specialist at Pacific University, a small, private, liberal arts college in Forest Grove. I am primarily responsible for tracking the library’s resource funds; overseeing the ordering, receiving, and invoicing process for all newly acquired materials; and aiming for the ever-moving target that is continuations budgeting.
Prior to this position, I had mainly worked for larger institutions with more staff members who had the same or overlapping responsibilities. Over the past few years at Pacific, I have had to train myself in conquering the inherent isolation associated with my work. I’ve found that this has brought out leadership qualities I did not know I possessed, and I have identified a few ways in which I have been able to harness and hone these newfound skills
Classification and the Specialized Library: Creating a Local Expansion of NLM Classification for Chiropractic Materials
Get PDFLibraries with specialized collections often face unique challenges to providing access to their materials. Cataloging tools, including subject headings and classification systems, are often better suited for less focused collections. Call number classification systems in particular are problematic for libraries with greater depth in certain subject areas. Users expect to be able to walk to the shelf and browse everything about a certain topic in the same section. This is a reasonable request in small libraries, but it is often difficult when working within existing schemas. In response to this problem, the University of Western States Library developed its own expansion to National Library of Medicine Classification in order to better serve its users.
In order for our small, specialized library to provide better access to its focused collection, the author decided to think outside of the classification box and create an expansion for NLM Classification focused on specific chiropractic therapeutic techniques. I was inspired by an NLM expansion for alternative healthcare developed at National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) that UWS has used for many years to provide better browsability for materials on alternative therapies. In particular, the section of NUNM Classification on medicinal herbs inspired the development of a similar expansion for chiropractic, with each technique assigned its own Cutter number
Genealogical Society Libraries: A Treasure Trove of Family Histories
Get PDFOregon’s genealogical societies come in all shapes and sizes, and their collections and services are just as varied. Some societies operate and maintain a standalone library; others’ holdings are part of a private or public library system, or housed in alternative public or private buildings. One thing all have in common, though, is that their unique materials are made available to the general public in addition to the society’s members, enabling anyone tracing their family tree—whether writer, researcher, or casual investigator—to access their collections.
Genealogical library collections may include books, periodicals, microfilm/microfiche, maps, photographs, research aids, reference books, local city directories, scrapbooks, obituaries, and even original county court record books. Manuscript collections (frequently referred to as vertical files) gather the work of earlier researchers and include items often unavailable elsewhere such as pedigree charts, family group sheets, and other original records and documents donated to the society. These files might hold a naturalization certificate, Bible record, or letter from one of YOUR ancestors
Followership, or Leading Up in Libraries in Brief
Get PDFIn the 2008 text, The Art of Followership, Chaleff, Riggio, and Lippman-Blumen lay out five traits of effective followers: courage to assume responsibility, courage to serve, courage to challenge, courage to participate, and courage to take moral action. In his 2015 text, Followership: What It Takes to Lead, James Schindler lists four attributes that successful followership is built on: belief in the mission, willingness to work toward the good of the whole, loyalty, and unity of focus. Authenticity also plays a part in both leadership and followership. As a follower, being authentic can help a person be intentional and help them guide leadership with confidence (Schindler, 2015). Leaders do not have all the power (Kean and Haycock-Stuart, 2011). One needs followers to lead.
There is much more literature available on followership than what is covered here. However, instead of a thorough literature review, readers can contemplate their own actions as followers, and those of the people with whom they have worked. What is most effective in your work, and with your leadership? If you are the leader, what can you do to support and cultivate these types of traits in those that you work with
The Pico Project: Looking ahead
Get PDFText mining methods are examined and assessed in order to find exact sources of Pico's theses ascribed to Medieval authors in his "Conclusiones nongentae"