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Understanding Graduate Students\u27 Course Selection Decisions
No full textTo increase the accuracy of course scheduling and avoid under- or over-enrolled courses, it’s important to understand factors that influence students’ course selection process. Our study surveyed graduate iSchool students about their course selection decisions. The student accounts confirm earlier study findings that course selection is influenced by class time, course content, student interest in course material, and the professor\u27s reputation. Students obtain course information from the online course planning system, the syllabus archive, and word of mouth (from peers and advisors); therefore, all these sources of information need to be available to facilitate students’ decisions. The study found that student demographics, particularly employment and caregiver status, influence and often constrain course choices. The findings highlight the importance of tracking student demographics as they move through their graduate program and supporting student course planning with timely information about future courses and professors
Library Worker Oral Histories
Get PDFFunded by the Archie Green Fellowship through the Library of Congress (LOC), the authors collected oral history interviews from Wisconsin Library Workers. The purpose of this project was to share everyday stories about information work from library workers themselves. The use of the term “library worker” rather than “librarian” was deliberate, to include those who may not have an MLIS degree. The authors interviewed 20 library workers across the State of Wisconsin. Trying to gain a broad view of library work, they included workers from academic, public, school, and special libraries. The interview recordings, interview transcripts, and photographs are being added to the LOC’s Occupational Folklife Project, which is part of the American Folklife Center.
These oral histories contribute to the larger story of work in America. The authors carefully prepared their materials for additional to the American Folklife Centers’s archive, including creating metadata according to the LOC’s specifications. The authors applied ethical practices such as communicating considerately, fully informing participants about the details of the project, and providing the interview questions to participants in advance. Participants were informed that they could withdraw at any time. Once this project is complete, the authors will use these archived interviews for future research. As the archives are public and digitally available, other researchers may access and use this data as well.
Authentic Inclusion: Highlighting Inclusive LIS Pedagogical and Professional Practices
Get PDFThis year, the SIG session embraces the theme of authentic inclusion, that is, inclusion not equated with compliance and implemented out of fear of repercussions and legal consequences. It is inclusion motivated by the genuine belief that workplaces, educational environments, and social settings welcoming to disabled and neurodiverse individuals are richer, more vibrant, more positive, and more creative. In the spirit of inclusion, this session will feature four 10-min lightning talks followed by an interactive audience engagement that will build on the delivered talks and allow session attendees to hone the newly acquired knowledge and implement some practical advice. Rathbun-Grubb will report on the results of a 2024 survey of library managers and supervisors, the goal of which was to elicit their perspectives on individual and organizational support for employees with disabilities, as well as the respondents’ corresponding training and information needs. While confident in their abilities to support their employees with disabilities, managers desire more structural support such as clear policies and formal training, and there is interest in creating employee resource groups such as those created for others by race or veteran status. The research indicated the need for more robust organizational strategic plans for supporting employees and their managers. The session will then move from the field of practice into higher education. In their IMLS- and university-funded study focused on Blind, Visually Impaired and Print-Disabled (BVIPD) students, Copeland, Kawooya, Robinson, Swartzendruber, Reisz, and Stitz will explore how disability services can work with university libraries and instructors to maximize access to content in accessible formats. They also examine how such collaborations can be facilitated through the Campus Accessibility Partnership Model developed by the authors. Tobin, Copeland, and Lucas Walling will examine the notion of accessibility beyond physical spaces and propose potential opportunities for integrating accessibility education more broadly in existing MLIS curricula. Based on their teaching experiences in MLIS programs, the presenters will introduce practices for creating inclusive, accessible collections for children and youth. The impetus for the presentation derives from the fact that numbers of students receiving special education services due to disabilities have increased significantly, with every indication that the trend will continue. This reality, coupled with the fact that many students in our schools and libraries have undiagnosed disabilities and accommodation needs, has resulted in an increasing and critical need for accessible collections, spaces, and services in school libraries. To wrap up this discussion and focusing on asynchronous online education, Smith will identify the problems related to perception, organization, and reading by students with disabilities, some of whom may not have formalized their disability accommodations. He will propose the ways in which course adjustments could be made to aid students in understanding the course structure, managing time and successfully completing course assignments. The lightning talks will be followed by four interactive engagements whereby attendees will have the chance to interact with all four groups of presenters, should they so desire, or to maintain a longer interaction with fewer presenters
Accessibility in Academic Libraries
Get PDFThe current study explores the accessibility efforts of academic libraries in supporting patrons with disabilities, with a focus on the implementation of assistive technologies, accessible furniture, and other accommodations. A survey was distributed to academic librarians across various institutions to gather data on current accessibility practices, challenges faced, and areas for improvement. The survey included questions on the availability of assistive technologies such as screen readers, braille displays, and text-to-speech software, as well as physical accommodations like adjustable furniture, ramps, and accessible workstations. The study seeks to highlight the importance of ongoing investment in accessibility, staff training, and institutional support to ensure equitable access for all patrons. Additionally, the researcher hopes to provide insights for library administrators and policymakers in addressing accessibility challenges in academic environments
The Inside Scoop: Creating and Leading a National Forum
Get PDFHave you ever thought about writing a grant to sponsor a national forum? Putting together a forum may be complicated, but it offers a unique experience to engage with and learn from the profession while substantially contributing to the field. Each grant has unique characteristics, from goals to participants to university support. Those differences will be infused in a discussion exploring aligning the project goals with the funding agency\u27s goals, soliciting participation, finding speakers, event logistics, and creating an engaging product. The panel includes four representatives from three IMLS national forum grants who will provide the ‘inside scoop’ from grant conception through the final documentation. The speakers will give frank advice and discuss where their projects were successful and effective, as well as the difficulties they encountered. Our panelists will also engage the audience in a discussion on finding community and building forums for resilient scholarship in the wake of a changing federal funding landscape.
INTRODUCTION
Representatives from three grant-funded projects will discuss their experiences coordinating an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Forum. While IMLS is not currently a viable granting agency, the discussion of goals, logistics, and outcomes are widely applicable. The three projects are:
Libraries Advancing Community Learning to Reduce Substance Abuse (LACL), which was a two-day National Forum project that was held in May 2025, written with partners at the University of Missouri, Emporia State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Kansas City Public Library. The LACL forum aimed to forge new paths that strengthen library programming around alcohol use disorder (AUD) and substance use disorder (SUD) recovery, using bibliotherapy and peer-to-peer learning circles. During the forum, attendees learned from experts in substance abuse treatment and harm reduction, bibliotherapy, and library outreach. Small group sessions, which followed each presentation, provided participants with space to discuss and brainstorm how the session could be applied in their own contexts. Virtual participation was offered via Zoom. Following the forum, we wrote a white paper that is providing the foundation for a multilingual toolkit that can be used and adapted by any library.
The National Forum to Connect and Advance Library Makerspaces was an 18-month project led by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab, in partnership with the American Library Association, Nation of Makers Library Makerspaces Working Group, and Library Makers. This IMLS-funded initiative brought together library professionals, educators, researchers, and makers nationwide to solidify and leverage current networks, projects, and expertise in library makerspaces and chart future directions. Through online forum activities, stakeholders engaged in dialogue, reflected on and consolidated existing knowledge, and envisioned the future of library makerspaces. The project resulted in a collaboratively developed vision and strategic direction for library makerspaces that will enhance the capacity of library makerspaces to meet the evolving needs of their communities while advancing the goals of the maker movement on a national scale.
The University of North Texas (UNT) Department of Information Science and the UNT Oral History Program hosted a series of forums to identify best practices and strategies to respond to challenges around building, implementing, preserving, and accessing community oral history projects. The project team convened librarians, archivists, oral history practitioners, public historians, community-based memory workers, and others working in oral history to identify good practices, share challenges and lessons learned, and prepare an actionable roadmap for building, implementing, preserving, and sustaining community oral history projects. The findings from the forums were supplemented by semi-structured interviews with individual librarians, archivists, and community-based oral historians to understand how community-based oral histories are created, preserved, accessed, and used in different settings. The project resulted in peer-reviewed presentations and publications, as well as a white paper summarizing the current state of the community oral history field and the ways in which cultural heritage institutions like libraries and archives can serve communities through oral history stewardship.
SESSION PLAN
The session will begin with short (5-10 minute) presentations from project representatives about their experiences drafting project proposal narratives, building realistic budgets, recruiting forum participants, and implementing their forums. Each representative will discuss their forum\u27s unique purpose and outcomes, as well as the ‘inside scoop’ about what went well with their forum and the key difficulties they encountered. Our panelists will then discuss the possibility of finding community and building forums for resilient scholarship outside of federal funding.
Then, attendees will break up into small groups that will be facilitated by members of the grant teams. During the small group sessions, attendees will discuss their ideas and formulate questions. If needed, representatives will use prompts to move the conversation along and encourage attendees to share their thoughts. These include:
If you have applied for this type of funding before, what did you wish you knew before this?
In the wake of federal funding losses, what do you want to know about applying for private foundation funding?
What are the most pressing issues in your research area that could be helped with collaboration?
Keeping your field of research and practice in mind, what are the benefits and drawbacks of holding a virtual forum? What about if you were to hold it in person?
Our field is a global one, yet federal grants tend to come with limitations on how and where funds can be spent. How can we design forums that include a multiplicity of voices, contexts, and ideas? Can we treat the shift away from US federal funding as an opportunity for more international collaboration?
What models can we look to outside of our field to guide us in a time of transition for the field?
During the small-group breakouts, the facilitators will co-create a Google Doc with questions and ideas, to both encourage attendees to participate and to facilitate a productive discussion afterward. Finally, the forum project representatives will then engage in a question-and-answer session based on the small-group questions and any additional questions that arise during Q&A
Tutus on Subarus, Technocratic Coups, and Literacy to Refuse: Provocations for Integrating Privacy Literacy in LIS Education
Get PDFPrivacy is associated with self-determination, identity, and dignity, and with the exercise of free expression and other freedoms. A significant majority of U.S. adults say that privacy matters to them more than ever. Privacy literacy (PL) programming presents an opportunity for libraries to meaningfully serve our communities on a topic of growing personal and social significance. PL comprises knowledge, skills, and attitudes about privacy, and is characterized as a subspecialty of information literacy, but library-based PL practitioners report that their LIS education did not adequately prepare them to engage in this work. This paper poses provocations for integrating PL in LIS education. It canvasses practitioner views on library-based PL programming in public libraries and K-20 education and shares preliminary professional competencies and frameworks from a national forum on PL in libraries. The paper concludes with considerations for LIS educators, programs, and accreditors regarding the integration of PL in LIS education
Memes and Meme Communication within Online Game Communities on Social Media: Reddit and Facebook
Get PDFWith their increasing popularity, memes have been extensively studied in academia but mainly refined to a single context, such as politics and gender. In this regard, this study examines meme interactions within online game communities that encompass complicated contexts to get deeper and more comprehensive insights into memes and meme communication through a theoretical lens of information domains (Burnett, 2015) and boundary objects (Star & Griesemer, 1989). Two online game groups related to League of Legends on Reddit and Facebook were chosen, considering their global popularity and diverse sociocultural in-game content. To reflect both creators’ and readers’ perspectives, 1,671 memes were directly collected through a two-month observation of the communities, and 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the student-run online game organization members at the Florida State University. The quantitative and qualitative content analyses were conducted for the collected memes and interview data. The results showed similarities in topics, major information values, and the typical format of memes between the memes and interview analysis. However, there was a difference in users’ information behaviors with memes, such as reactions to offline events. The findings also showed that even communities centered on the same online game can differ in scale and culture, involving various contexts. Consequently, the themes and content employed in memes, as well as the patterns of information behavior around their use, can vary significantly
Culture wars in the Commonwealth: Public libraries, book bans, and the First Amendment
Get PDFPublic libraries are quickly losing the ‘culture war’ being waged against them (Jones, 2024). They also lack the coordinated support, resources, and legislative power of those leading the national assault on the right to read, intellectual freedom, and the First Amendment (ALA, 2024). Few resources provide timely and relevant guidance for public libraries on negotiating book challenges with concerned community members, elected officials, and interested parties. This research study responds to nascent ‘culture war’ developments in Virginia – specifically, recent government interference in public library governance in Warren County in December (Schneider, 2024) and a new bill targeting ‘obscene’ materials tabled in January 2025 (VA Senate Bill No. 931)– to propose a pilot research study with Virginia public library staff, administrators, and volunteers familiar with local book challenges and negotiations to understand better how organizational negotiation capability impacts their outcomes (Gordon & Furlong, 2023). It uses qualitative (semi-structured interviews) and quantitative (Negotiation Assessment Tool) methods to provide invaluable local and state research and evidence-based approaches to inform these increasingly high-stakes negotiations (Gordon & Furlong, 2023; Seidman, 2019). It builds on the co-Principal Investigators strong body of research in equity, assessment, and public librarianship (Harper et al., 2021; Matthews, 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2025; Matthews & Thomas, 2022, 2025; Mongeon et al., 2021) along with their combined thirty years of professional experience in librarianship and community development to propose a timely study to advance a more comprehensive understanding of book challenge negotiations and support public libraries on a state and national level
Dismantling Entrenched Citadels in LIS: Critical Autoethnographic “Voices” in Resistance and Survival
Get PDFCritical/ethical perspectives in resistance/survival within entrenched social structures in library and information science (LIS) (education/practice) provide potentially valuable opportunities to rectify wrongdoings/promote fairness, justice, and equity (Cooke & Sanchez, 2019; Jaeger et al., 2011). Historically LIS has inherited systemic exclusions, elitism, and social injustices toward diversely construed underserved populations (Jaeger et al., 2015; Mehra, 2022). For example, LIS largely derives its canons of theory and practice from Europe and a white Australasia, overlooking any alternate authority, such as Asian, African, Aboriginal, or other sources (Gray & Mehra, 2021). Anglo/Eurocentricity in LIS also bestows privilege to positivistic/postpositivist research and theorization/abstraction of realities, thereby, marginalizing everyday life experiences or overlooking humanist/interpretive approaches, action research, and other methods (Mehra, 2021). How can LIS gain insights toward balanced growth from those challenging such entrenched mechanisms? Diverse LIS panelists present glimpses of their navigating treacherous paths of entrenched citadels within and beyond the academy. They share critical autoethnographic “voices” towards dismantling entrenched mechanisms broadly immersed in white-IST (white + elitist) American culture (Boylorn & Orbe, 2020, Giroux & McLaren, 1986; Mehra and Gray, 2020). The panel marks a homage to Audre Lorde’s (1984) essay “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and extends its argument that for implementing social justice against racism (and other isms: sexism, heterosexism, ageism, ablism, etc.), it is urgent to dismantle the foundational structures that facilitate their operationalization (Mehra, 2024).
The goal of this panel is to identify past/current entrenched dysfunctions experienced in LIS and strategies to dismantle systemic structures in pursuit of social justice. The following panelists give brief talks leading to audience reflections on issues related to the presented concerns:
Vanessa Irvin (“Becoming and Being \u27Better\u27 in the LIS Academy”): LIS practitioner inquiry is a stance that asks, “How can I contribute my best research in the field? How can I bring my best teaching to students?” This talk explores what it means to become “better” as entrenched in an ongoing quest to present our authentic selves as librarian educators (Lytle, 2008). However, with librarianship being a field whose racist heritage remains unreconciled, practitioner inquiry often feels like a self-preservative response to the -isms (Irvin, 2019) rather than a stance of collegiality that is reflective, inclusive, and contributory to our field’s discourse.
Kimberly Black (“Can LIS Education be Decolonized?”): This talk shares a response from the perspective of a person who led a successful effort to gain initial ALA accreditation at a Predominantly Black Institution. My experience with the process led to the (unsurprising) understanding that accreditors/professional associations like ALA are “captured” elite organizations, enabling the socially advantaged to gain control over benefits meant for everyone, and functioning to colonize and preserve the status of the colonizers (Alessandrini, 2023; Táíwò, 2022). Postsecondary education accreditation (including in LIS) is an inherently colonizing and political process in higher education – it is an integral part of the infrastructure of the citadel.
Kaurri C. Williams-Cockfield (“From the Funding Trenches: A Public Library Director’s Conundrum”): This presentation focuses on my personal experiences serving as the public library director in Blount County, TN, during a contentious funding battle over library staff longevity pay. I narrate advocating for staff raises, petitioning the local government through the EveryLibrary platform, and the fallout given the entrenched misogyny and white male privilege existent in local politics. Deciding to challenge the status quo always comes with consequences, so understanding the political culture and being prepared for any repercussions is vital.
Joseph Winberry (“If We Suffered It Doesn\u27t Mean Our Students Should: Modeling a Critical/Empathetic Doctoral. Education”): It has been estimated that less than 2% of the global population has a doctoral degree. Many others might start the degree but decline to finish, for reasons as benign as simply realizing the degree was not for them. But what if the failure of institutions and individual advisors are to blame for education-related grief and trauma that continues to perpetuate within the academy? This talk draws on the author’s own experience to imagine what critical and empathetic doctoral education might be like and how it can create a better experience for all LIS students going forward.
Africa S. Hands (“Giving Notice”): There’s a saying: “You teach people how to treat you.” These words are not limited to individual interactions. They have relevance for collective bodies, such as professional organizations and faculty bodies. In a collective, these words may be activated to put students on notice regarding how they are expected to treat faculty as a whole or to put reviewers on notice for how they are expected to provide feedback to authors. This talk asks: What does it look like to dismantle white supremacy—from day one—in the classroom, in our professional organizations, and in our journals?
LaVerne Gray (“‘The Matter Is Life’: Black Feminist Narratology/Collectivism in Resistance”): In the 1991 collection of fictional stories about the Black experience (“The matter is life”), author J. California Cooper prophetically situates a movement centered on matter. It is this matter that manifests the space for wisdom centered in narration, storytelling, and life experiences, hallmarks of Black Feminist/Womanists knowledge and resistance. Exploring the collision of matter, life, voice, and lived experience, this talk offers creative autoethnographic tools to layer narratives in the exposition of the perpetual resistance of Black women from personal/observed narratives.
Bharat Mehra (“Deconstructing “One Brick at a Time” in LIS to Dismantle an Entrenched Citadel”): The talk proposes a thematic deconstruction “one brick at a time”, applying Critical Race Theory (CRT), to dismantle systemic, white- centered entrenched power structures in American LIS educational programs immersed in exclusionary academic institutions. This talk integrates individual experiences and identifies foundational units (i.e., bricks) via which racism is maintained by LIS educators/practitioners to implement authentic antiracist praxis.
Structure of the 90-minute session:
Activity
Minutes
Panel introduction (Mehra: Moderator)
2
Seven glimpses (maximum 10 minutes each)
70
Audience reactions
15
Conclusion
3
By the panel conclusion, participants gain understanding of how systemic entrenchment is manifested in LIS and effective strategies to support/empower marginalized experiences
Nice White Lady: A Mixed Methods Study of Race and Femininity in Librarianship
Get PDF This dissertation examines the role of race and femininity in North American librarianship through the lens of the educational expectations of the discipline. As the master’s degree in library and information science (LIS) is both the entry point to the profession as emphasized by the American Library Association (ALA), and the terminal degree, it is fair to suggest that this educational lens is an appropriate point of inquiry while working to understand the race and gender demographics of those within the profession itself. Librarianship has long been a white-dominated, female-intensive profession, a term coined by researcher Roma Harris (1992) and is the focal point of this study.
A mixed methods approach was taken with quantitative and qualitative data gathered through an anonymous survey seeking information on the role of gender or gender expression and race and ethnicity on the educational experiences and career trajectory of current librarians. Further information was gathered through interviews. The study was designed through the framework of Harris’ adaptation of Career Development Theory.
The results of this study concluded that both race and gender have had significant impacts on the education and careers of librarians in the United States both directly, and through the indirect means of personal finances, social upheaval, and a dependence on heteronormative workplace and household structures. Using the information gathered here as well as an overview of the discipline’s shifting history, it is fair to conclude that the system of librarianship was designed for white women