OU Libraries Faculty Scholarship
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Item Enhancing accessibility in STEM: A survey of accessibility errors in STEM academic databases(Taylor & Francis, 2024-09-19) Van Loon, James; McCann, ShawnAcademic libraries must provide accessible electronic and information technology to patrons using assistive technology to access library materials. Accessibility of scholarly material is particularly important in the STEM disciplines, where attrition rates of students with disabilities is higher than in other fields. In this study, the accessibility of STEM indexing databases was evaluated using the WAVE accessibility tool, and the frequency of errors, alerts, and features encountered during the completion of typical searching tasks for each database was noted. The use of accessibility-checking tools like WAVE can supplement other methods used to verify the accessibility of vendor-created library databases.Item You got transformative learning in my critical pedgogy! Connecting two theoretical perspectives to inform our instructional identities and praxis(LOEX Conference Proceedings, 2023) Nichols Hess, AmandaCritical information literacy and transformative learning theory grow from the same roots: Both are founded in examinations of power structures, critiques of cultural systems, and aims of emancipation. However, librarians haven’t considered whether transformative learning theory can support critical practices in our teaching, nor have we explored how critical library instruction can shape our own transformative experiences around who we are as educators. In this conference paper, I connect these complementary theoretical approaches to consider our instructional identities in more critical ways, create conditions where students may experience perspective transformation, and provide pathways for true and meaningful praxis.Item Datasets for submitted article titled "A Health Education Partnership Between an Academic Medical Library and Public Library: Lessons Learned Before & During a Pandemic"(2021-01-22) Swanberg, Stephanie M.; Look, Erin; Yuen, Emily W.; Jayakumar, Mithya; Shubitowski, Tyler; Bulgarelli, Nancy; Wedemeyer, Rose; Lucia, VictoriaThree datasets for submitted article (see article abstract below): Background: Public libraries serve as community centers for accessing free, trustworthy health information. As such, they provide an ideal setting to teach the local community about health and health literacy, particularly during public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2018, an outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library has developed, delivered, and continuously evaluated a health education program targeting public library users. Case Presentation: Health education activities were integrated into three existing public library programs: adult workshops, child and family programming, and circulating family activity kits, all of which pivoted online during the pandemic. An interprofessional team approach combined the expertise of academic medical and public librarians, medical school faculty and staff, and medical students in developing the educational programs. A total of 12 in-person and three virtual health education programs were offered and seven health education family kits were launched. Activities were evaluated using program evaluation surveys of the adult and children’s programs. Conclusions: This case report showcases the lessons learned in implementing a longitudinal outreach partnership between an academic medical and public library before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with a look to the future. The interprofessional team approach and flexibility in program design and delivery in both the in-person and virtual environments proved critical to the success of the partnership. This can inspire other libraries to pursue interprofessional collaborations in educating local communities on healthy behavior and health information seeking practices.Item How Much Do Faculty Think Students Should Pay for Course Materials? A Survey of Instructors' Use of Current Course Materials and OER Use(Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication, 2022) Rodriguez, Julia E.Introduction: Campus affordability initiatives promote the adoption of free, low-cost, and open educational materials. Coordinators first need to understand faculty usage of instructional course materials, textbook selection authority, and their price tolerance for, knowledge of, and use of open educational resources (OER). Methods: Faculty at a medium-sized research university in the Midwest were invited to participate in an online survey about their current use of instructional course materials, their knowledge of material cost, and student purchasing habits. The survey had a completion rate of 128 responses, representing all teaching ranks on campus. Results: Instructors assign a wide range of materials and rarely hear from students about their inability to purchase textbooks. The majority find US$100 or more an acceptable price and believe that more than 70% of students purchase all required items. Over half of respondents make the final decision about their materials, and factually accurate content is the top priority when making selections. Eighty percent have some awareness of OER, but OER use is low. Discussion: Response rate was too low to make general assumptions but suggests areas for further exploration and provides base data when working with departments. A faculty member’s selection authority could be limiting OER use and impacting students. Discussions need to take place about an acceptable price for department courses and how faculty decide to require materials. Conclusion: Outreach to campus partners should promote high-quality materials as instructors consider this the most when selecting resources. Further examination of how selection authority impacts OER use and student success need to occur.Item How Much Do Faculty Think Students Should Pay for Course Materials? Understanding Faculty Cost Tolerance and Selection Authority(2023-05-18) Rodriguez, Julia E.Campus OER initiatives promote the adoption of open educational materials but first, there needs to be an understanding of campus practices, policies, and norms that may impact or even obstruct the adoption of new course materials. This presentation reports on the findings of a study that investigated the types of course materials instructors assign, instructors’ perception of an acceptable cost for these materials, their selection authority, and instructors’ knowledge and use of OER.Item Scholarly Communication Services: From an Island, You Can Build Bridges(2023) Rodriguez, Julia E.In 2012, my library reorganized to align with a new strategic plan. As a result, my position changed and I needed a new job title. My dean suggested scholarly communication librarian, to which I had a strong reaction. “What on earth does scholarly communication even mean?” After some discussion, we settled on faculty research support librarian, agreeing that it more clearly communicated my role to campus. I was tasked with developing services for assisting faculty throughout the research life cycle. I didn’t have a department or even a group of other librarians who also embraced this work. It was just me on my island, and it wasn’t a sunny tropical island but a medium-sized Midwest public university library with not enough librarians (thirteen) to serve the growing student population (now 20,000), let alone over 500 faculty. My acquired competencies for this position at this point included some basic expertise in copyright, I had recently served as open access track lead for a regional teaching conference where I also presented on institutional repositories, and I was the author of two peer-reviewed articles. I thought back to four years earlier when I was assigned to support the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences with no corresponding experience beyond having been a patient. To alleviate my sense of impostor syndrome, I completed every continuing education course I could find on evidence-based medicine, PubMed, and systematic reviews. Fortunately, many courses were free and my administration financed the cost when there was a fee. With my new title in hand, I set forth, sometimes deliberately and sometimes fortuitously, to develop my skills and knowledge. Reflecting on this eight-year journey, the following themes emerge.Item Knowledge is Power: The Rise and Fall of the Libraries of the United Automobile Workers’ Union(2019) Daniel, DominiqueThis article traces the history of libraries run by local unions of the International United Automobile Workers' union (UAW) from the mid-1930s through the 1950s. Using the records of the UAW it examines the purpose of its libraries and the workers' education program they were part of. It analyzes the collections in these libraries and considers how they were developed, who used them, and how they fared in light of the role of print in the UAW's activities and of Depression, wartime-era, and postwar working-class reading culture.Item Doing the Donor Dance: Lessons Learned from Talking to Donors and Working with Donor Relations Staff [Conference presentation](2022-09-29) Rodriguez, Julia E.MI-OER Summit 2022 - presentation. Recording available. https://youtu.be/s-ln4JIN4Y0Item Work in progress: Promoting the use of standards by faculty through improved access(2022-03-18) Van Loon, JamesTechnical standards can provide an effective instructional scaffold for undergraduate engineering coursework, and exposing engineering students to appropriate standards is one of the requirements for program accreditation by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET). However, providing access to standards can be challenging for academic libraries due to their expense and the restrictions imposed by publishers on borrowing these documents from other libraries. As a first step towards improving access to standards for students and faculty at Oakland University (OU), the use of standards by faculty in their teaching and research is investigated via survey research. It is hoped that this study will not only provide guidance on which standards are the highest priority for access by our affiliates, but will also yield insight into how standards are being integrated into coursework in the engineering curriculum at OU.Item Datasets for submitted article titled "A Health Education Partnership Between an Academic Medical Library and Public Library: Lessons Learned Before & During a Pandemic"(2021) Bulgarelli, Nancy; Look, Erin; Swanberg, Stephanie M.; Yuen, Emily W.; Jayakumar, Mithya; Shubitowski, Tyler; Wedemeyer, Rose; Lucia, VictoriaThree datasets for submitted article (see article abstract below): Background: Public libraries serve as community centers for accessing free, trustworthy health information. As such, they provide an ideal setting to teach the local community about health and health literacy, particularly during public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2018, an outreach partnership between an academic medical library and public library has developed, delivered, and continuously evaluated a health education program targeting public library users. Case Presentation: Health education activities were integrated into three existing public library programs: adult workshops, child and family programming, and circulating family activity kits, all of which pivoted online during the pandemic. An interprofessional team approach combined the expertise of academic medical and public librarians, medical school faculty and staff, and medical students in developing the educational programs. A total of 12 in-person and three virtual health education programs were offered and seven health education family kits were launched. Activities were evaluated using program evaluation surveys of the adult and children’s programs. Conclusions: This case report showcases the lessons learned in implementing a longitudinal outreach partnership between an academic medical and public library before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with a look to the future. The interprofessional team approach and flexibility in program design and delivery in both the in-person and virtual environments proved critical to the success of the partnership. This can inspire other libraries to pursue interprofessional collaborations in educating local communities on healthy behavior and health information seeking practices.Item Quality evaluation of data management plans at a research university(2017-03-01) Van Loon, James E; Akers, Katherine; Hudson, Cole; Sarkozy, AlexandraWith the emergence of the National Science Foundation (NSF) requirement for data management plans (DMPs), academic librarians have increasingly aided researchers in developing DMPs and disseminating research data. To determine the overall quality of DMPs at Wayne State University, the Library System’s Research Data Services (RDS) team evaluated the content of 119 DMPs from NSF grant proposals submitted between 2012 and 2014. The results of our content analysis indicate that, while most researchers understand the need to share data, many DMPs fail to adequately describe the data generated by the project, how data will be managed during the project, or how data will be preserved and shared after the completion of the project. Our results also show that DMP deficiencies vary across academic units, suggesting the need for differentiated outreach services to improve the strength of DMPs in future NSF grant proposals.Item Examination of Academic Library Websites Regarding COVID-19 Responsiveness(2021) Condic, Kristine S.The COVID pandemic has affected all aspects of life including academic libraries. While many are now open, services have changed to accommodate social distancing such as limiting guests to those within the university community and requiring face coverings for those who enter and study. In order to determine a library’s COVID policy, users may examine the library website, but is this information easy to find? In a study of library websites from 132 "R2" academic libraries, it was found that most libraries displayed COVID-related services and hours directly on the library’s webpage or one click away. Opening status and hours were readily displayed on library webpages, however, user populations accepted in the library and face covering requirements were not as easily discovered. During this time of uncertainty, it behooves libraries to make their COVID policies clear on their websites.Item Strategies for Staying Sane While Providing Research Support and Instruction in High Enrollment or Research-Intensive Programs(2020-01-28) Rodriguez, Julia E.; Bucciarelli, Elizabeth R.Managing the duties of an academic liaison librarian can be a challenge, especially when the liaison departments have high student enrollments. Two librarians from separate comprehensive Michigan universities assigned to the schools of Health Sciences and Nursing, representing ~4,000 students per semester and with 37 years combined experience, discuss a myriad of strategies used to provide instruction and research support both in-person and online for high enrollment programs and tips for keeping sane.Item Designing for engagement: Using the ADDIE model to integrate high-impact practices into an online information literacy course(2016) Nichols Hess, AmandaIn this article, the authors share how a team of librarians used the ADDIE instructional design model to incorporate best practices in teaching and learning into an online, fourcredit information literacy course. In this redesign process, the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ high-impact practices and e-learning best practices were integrated as scaffolds for course content. The authors' experience with this systematic process and the concepts of instructional design suggest that the ADDIE model can be used to achieve several different ends in information literacy instruction. First, it can provide a structure around which librarians can develop a variety of instructional interactions. Second, it can help librarians consider student engagement, learning, and assessment more intentionally. And third, it can help to marry information literacy-specific standards and other learning guidelines, such as high-impact practices and e-learning best practices. From the authors' experience, other academic librarians may find applications for instructional design constructs into their own teaching practices, both in online and face-to-face learning environments.Item Advancing research data management in the social sciences: Implementing instruction for education graduate students into a doctoral curriculum.(2017) Nichols Hess, Amanda; Thielen, JoannaResearch data management (RDM) skills are vital yet often untaught in graduate programs, especially in the social sciences. In this article, my co-author and I presented a case study of how a Research Data Librarian and an Education Librarian partnered to provide targeted RDM instruction for a previously unconsidered student group: education doctoral students. We discussed the design, development, and implementation of this focused RDM support. Assessment data from a workshop and in-class sessions were also presented and contextualized. From this information, we offered practical suggestions that other social science librarians can use to create similar workshops at their institutions.Item Academic librarians’ educational factors and perceptions of teaching transformation: An exploratory examination(2019) Nichols Hess, AmandaObjective – As information literacy instruction is an increasingly important function of academic librarianship, it is relevant to consider librarians’ attitudes about their teaching. More specifically, it can be instructive to consider how academic librarians with different educational backgrounds have developed their thinking about themselves as educators. Understanding the influences in how these shifts have happened can help librarians to explore the different supports and structures that enable them to experience such perspective transformation. Methods – The author electronically distributed a modified version of King’s (2009) Learning Activities Survey to academic librarians on three instruction-focused electronic mail lists. This instrument collected information on participants’ demographics, occurrence of perspective transformation around teaching, and perception of the factors that influenced said perspective transformation (if applicable). The author analyzed the data for those academic librarians who had experienced perspective transformation around their teaching identities to determine if statistically significant relationships existed between their education and the factors they reported as influencing this transformation. Results – Results demonstrated several statistically significant relationships and differences in the factors that academic librarians with different educational backgrounds cited as influential in their teaching-focused perspective transformation. Conclusion – This research offers a starting point for considering how to support different groups of librarians as they engage in information literacy instruction. The findings suggest that addressing academic librarians’ needs based on their educational levels (e.g., additional Master’s degrees, PhDs, or professional degrees) may help develop productive professional learning around instruction.Item From information experts to expert educators? Academic librarians' experiences with perspective transformation and their teaching identities(2017) Nichols Hess, AmandaAs information formats, needs, and access change, post-secondary students need to be prepared to make sense of the morass of content they encounter – for academic, professional, and personal purposes. Academic librarians can serve a key role in meeting these needs, especially if they see themselves as educators. In this research, I sought to examine whether academic librarians reported experiencing the phenomenon of perspective transformation around their senses of themselves as professionals; I particularly examined whether they reported developing an identity as an educator. In this sequential explanatory mixed methods study, participants responded to a modified validated survey instrument; I then conducted follow-up interviews with a small sub-set of these respondents to further understand their experiences. From these data, I assert that academic librarians report having such experiences, and I argue that they can develop teaching identities as part of their professional self-concept. From this basic understanding, I also examined what factors influenced academic librarians’ experiences in this transformation process; they indicated that different kinds of interpersonal relationships and hands-on experiences were key to shaping how they viewed themselves as educators. I used more advanced statistical analysis through one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) and linear regression to further consider whether relationships existed between demographic variables and the factors that academic librarians reported as influences in their perspective transformation processes. The areas where these statistically significant relationships exist offer jumping-off points for future researchers interested in exploring academic librarians’ transformative experiences around teaching.Item Academic librarians’ teaching identities and work experiences: Exploring relationships to support perspective transformation in information literacy instruction(2020-01) Nichols Hess, AmandaAcademic library leaders have a vested interest in quality library instruction, but strategies to ensure this happens can vary across environments. In this study, the author analyzed data collected using King’s Learning Activities Survey to consider how work demographics impacted instruction librarians’ teaching identity development. Through one-way analyses of variance and cross-tabulation analyses, she found several statistically-significant relationships between how academic librarians’ institution types and times at their institution differently inform their teaching identity development. These relationships offer opportunities for library leaders to offer intentional, data-driven support for academic librarians in developing teaching identities while offering high-quality instruction for learners.Item Instructional modalities and perspective transformation: How academic librarians’ experiences in blended/hybrid, and online instruction influence their teaching identities(2020-01) Nichols Hess, AmandaAs librarians’ instructional responsibilities diversify, it is useful to consider what factors influence how they see themselves as educators. In this research, the author used a survey instrument grounded in transformative learning theory to explore what factors librarians who provided online or blended/hybrid instruction felt had impacted their teaching identities. She found statistically-significant differences between these librarians and their peers who provided face-to-face instruction in the relationships, experiences, and professional components that influenced their educator identities. By better understanding these influences, we can more intentionally support academic librarians who teach online or in blended/hybrid environments.Item OER Readiness and Environmental Scan of Departments with High-Enrollment Courses - SPARC OER Fellowship Final Report(2019-05-12) Rodriguez, Julia E.For my SPARC OER Fellowship capstone project I conducted an open educational resources (OER) readiness and environmental scan of three departments with the high enrollment courses (HEC) to gather data about current practices, structures, policies, attitudes and course material usage to determine which departments would most likely switch to OER or low-cost alternatives. For this scan, I developed a methodology that includes collecting data from departments with HECs by conducting a textbook listening tour, small group interviews and gathering university data to determine which program/courses will most likely convert a course. The methodology developed relies on a deep listening approach for conducting a textbook listening tour. Deep listening “is a way of hearing in which we are fully present with what is happening in the moment without trying to control it or judge it.” This methodology allows for the listener to hear the intention of the speaker, and actively listen in an empathetic supportive manner that builds trust. Adapting an existing listening tour question base, I divided the listening tour meetings into two separate discussions. The first meeting employed a deep listening approach for the discussion of the current textbook use and department practices. At the follow-up meeting, the discussion introduced options for “getting to affordable” based on what was learned and what was heard about the department’s needs and values. The listening tour data was used to immediately address low hanging fruit that arose during the discussion such as; creating a course affordability tips faculty handout and adding an iclicker collection to library reserves. The data gathered supported the campus affordable course materials initiative which launched during this time. The full environmental scan methodology was developed into a community resource using a publicly accessible Google document linked via SPARC’s OER Fellowship program webpages and deposited in Oakland University’s institutional repository, OUR@Oakland.