Afternoon Session 1: Preparing for the New RDA
Session moderator: Dr. Ingrid Hsieh-YeeGreat Room B
Panel Presenters: Kate James, Judith Cannan and Paul Frank, Library of Congress
The RDA Toolkit Restructure and Redesign Project, better known as the 3R Project, seeks to improve the usability of the Toolkit and to address a range of cataloging issues, including the implementation of the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM). In June, the RDA Toolkit beta site was released, enabling the cataloging community to get its first glimpse of the new ways in which RDA will accommodate creating library metadata as linked data. This panel will discuss some of the most important changes in RDA content and how their agency, the Library of Congress is preparing for them.
Kate James will provide a brief overview of the 3R Project and how RDF influenced its development. She will explain the ways in which the new RDA provides for recording elements as linked data, and the role of the RDA Registry in creating and maintaining the new RDA.
Judith Cannan will explain the approach LC will take to train its large cataloging staff, including classroom training, webinars, etc. She will also discuss the challenges it anticipates for presenting major changes in RDA content and organization.
Paul Frank will address how the new RDA will affect the LC BIBFRAME Editor, including changes needed to include new RDA entities, elements, and recording methods. Using the BIBFRAME editor as a test case, he will provide an assessment of whether the new RDA makes it easier to move into the linked data environment.
Afternoon Session 2: Information Literacy
Session moderator: Dr. Renate ChancellorConference Room C
Avoiding Predatory Publishing: The Role of Librarians in Faculty Education
Ruth Bueter, George Washington University
Predatory publishing has become an increasing problem in recent years. Due to a lack of awareness about predatory publishers, faculty authors are at risk of harming their reputations by publishing their research in questionable journals. Librarians can play a vital role in educating faculty authors about this important topic. This session will review a variety of outreach and educational efforts at Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library that have been successful in educating faculty about the risks of predatory publishing. These efforts include the creation of a comprehensive LibGuide, faculty consultation services, workshops and social media posts. Future opportunities for outreach will also be explored including the development of a scholarly publishing literacy curriculum, creating partnerships with key departments, and targeted departmental education efforts.
When Fake News Impedes Access to Justice
Shannon Roddy, American University
It seems like fake news is in the news every day, a new phenomenon unique to our age of social media and Internet trolls. In reality, fake news is not new at all; the term “fake news” dates back to the late nineteenth century. There is certainly a growing awareness of fake news, however, and an increasing focus on the problem of fake news within the legal and library science communities. This briefing focuses on fake legal news as an access to justice issue. Law librarians have an obligation to address the rise of fake legal news in their efforts to provide access to justice. I define access to justice; provide examples of how fake legal news has impeded individuals’ access to justice; and discuss why news consumers may be especially susceptible to believing and sharing fake legal news, and ways librarians may provide access to justice by combating fake legal news.
Information Literacy Simulations for Active Learning
Faith Rusk and Daphna Atias, University of the District of Columbia
The research paper is the most common method of incorporating information literacy skills into a class. However, research papers are often high-stakes assignments that treat information literacy as only important for that particular project instead of as something that comes up constantly in everyday life and work. This briefing demonstrates how simulations can be used as an alternative, active learning approach to incorporate finding, evaluating and using information into a class. Simulations allow for a smaller, lower-stakes experience with research, and they require students to apply research in novel ways. In collaboration with faculty, simulations can be used for active library instruction. Using a Tweet Response Simulation as a jumping-off point, this briefing presents a template for active information literacy learning that can be adjusted to fit any class level or subject.
Cultivating a Community of Practice with Information Literacy Colleagues
Maria Koshute and Kelly Durkin Ruth, United States Naval Academy
The act of critical self-reflection underpins the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, and in the spirit of the Framework, the United States Naval Academy’s reference and instruction librarians have turned that lens of self-reflection onto our own practices. During the past year, the Nimitz Library teaching staff have implemented a variety of initiatives to foster more robust reflective practice. In this session, we will discuss the planning, implementation, and outcome of three of these
programs, including our Information Literacy Program SWOT Analysis, Peer Observation program and Journal Club. We will outline how these initiatives helped us gain greater insight into our pedagogical practice, program strengths and weaknesses, and provided critical learning opportunities.
Afternoon Session 3: Digital Collections
Session moderator: Dr. Jane ZhangConference Rooms 321-323
Digitizing Braille Music: A Case Study
Katherine Rodda and Donna Koh, Library of Congress
The Music Library at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the Library of Congress has been actively digitizing its braille music collection in order to preserve it, make it electronically available and to reduce physical space needed for storage. Poor scanning and editing can result in scores that are confusing or even unusable, especially for the blind musicians who rely on our materials. Over the past few years, we have used different scanners and software with varying degrees of accuracy and speed. In this paper, we will explain our digitization process and the software and techniques we use, and discuss the challenges we face in capturing and proofreading archival quality e-braille files.
By the People: A User-centered Approach to Digital Collections at the Library of Congress
Victoria Van Hyning, Library of Congress
Library of Congress Labs will share the new crowdsourcing initiative “By the People” which works toward the Library’s Digital Strategy goals of a user-centered Library by actively engaging learners of all ages with digital Library collections. By the People invites public participation in collective development of cultural memory through exploration, transcription and tagging of digitized collections to make digital collections more accessible. By the People is user-centered and has a central goal of engaging the public where they are—physically, skill level and knowledge—through trust and approachability. The project builds on skills and technologies of the Library of Congress and also shares them back to the public through the underlying open source application Concordia. This presentation will share the agile and iterative process of creating Concordia and will explain the engagement program developed to support the public in connecting with Library of Congress digital collections.
What’s in Your Repository?
Gail McMillan, Virginia Tech
Do community-facing resources in the digital repository reflect the work being done at the university? Can examining a microcosm such as the LGBTQ-related materials indicate how successful a university’s digital repository is in avoiding unconscious bias? Searching the repository’s collections, including ETDs (electronic theses and dissertations) and Faculty Research indicates whether these authors used particular terms in their scholarship, when the terms were used and how frequently the terms appear. Comparing frequency and publication dates within rather than across collections is more revealing. Terms not used or used more or less frequently in one collection or the other and elsewhere within the IR may also be significant. After presenting the findings from a study of VTechWorks, Virginia Tech’s digital repository, I ask for audience input, such as suggestions for research methodologies that might prove more revealing and possible collaborators who would like to compare and contrast across institutions.
Ongoing Challenges for Digitization in Small Archives: A Case Study of the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives
Lorna Loring, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives
Small archives and historical societies are often left behind as digitization efforts become more common among larger repositories. Limited funding and a lack of staff with professional archival or library training and other issues present significant challenges. Yet these smaller institutions hold materials that could be considered “hidden treasures” that are often overlooked. This paper focuses on these issues using a case study of digitization efforts at the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives in Winchester, Virginia, a local and family history center run jointly by the Handley Regional Library and the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society.