Libraries Scholarly Works

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1808/23

Browse

Oral History from the Life of Mariia Dobrotvorskaia, née Maliavich, as recorded by her son
(2025) Dobrotvorskaia, Mariia; Giullian, Jon; Karpusheva, Anna; Husieva, Oksana
This oral history presents reminiscences from the life of Mariia Dobrotvorskaia, from her childhood and youth, when she lived Russia and Ukraine, and from her adult life after emigrating to the United States. The oral history consists of three files, the audio recording, the Russian transcription, and the English translation.
Josef Hofmann’s Formulas of Success in Russia (1895-1913) Based on Materials from the Press during Those Years
(2021) Giullian, Jon C.; Blauberg, Nataliia
This article describes the success of Josef Hofmann's performance tours in Russia from 1895-1913, based on sources in the Russian press during those years. The article demonstrates that Josef Hoffman enjoyed extraordinary success as a performer in Russia at the turn of the 20th century. In addition to performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg, he traveled throughout the the country, winning over audience wherever he went and was dubbed the "king of pianists."
The Status of Druze Studies and Launching the Druze Studies Journal (DSJ)
(University of Kansas, 2024-09-18) Hazran, Yusri; Reed, Marianne A.; Schäbler, Birgit; Timani, Hussam S.; Zeedan, Rami
This essay discusses the evolution of Druze Studies and the inauguration of the Druze Studies Journal (DSJ), as well as encapsulates discussions from the "2023 Bilingual Interdisciplinary Virtual Symposium: Druze Studies: Past, Present, and Future." Initiated at the University of Kansas, this event marks a pivotal moment in researching the Druze, addressing the field’s expansion over the last two decades, and creating platforms like DSJ and the Druze Studies Project for scholarly exchange. Contributions range from digital publishing innovations to critical reevaluations of Druze Studies' scope and methodologies. Key discussions revolve around enhancing research continuity, overcoming interdisciplinary challenges, and navigating ethical considerations surrounding sacred community beliefs. This collective effort underscores the importance of DSJ as a medium for fostering academic dialogue, broadening Druze Studies’ reach, and promoting a deeper, more inclusive understanding of the Druze community's historical and contemporary contexts.
Planet of the APCs: A decade of progress and setbacks in open access
(Iowa State University Digital Press, 2024-12-20) Bolick, Josh; Emmett, Ada; Greenberg, Marc; Peterson, A. Townsend; Rosenblum, Brian
It has been ten years since the JLSC’s publication “Bottlenecks in the Open Access System: Voices from Around the Globe,” which provided a forum for researchers on four continents and of various disciplinary, political, and economic circumstances to share perspectives on open access (OA) funded by article processing charges (APCs). The authors of “Bottlenecks…,” of which we are a subset (we organized the article, sought and collated coauthor input, and led analysis and drafting of discussion and conclusions), supported OA, but raised issues with APC “gold” OA, which excludes many of them from authorship opportunities. Then, and now, we propose that “diamond” (or “platinum”) OA models (no payment for reading or authoring) are more equitable and appropriate. In the intervening years, however, scholarly publishing and OA have been highly dynamic, changing both for better and for worse. For example, the rhetorical arguments for OA have clearly prevailed, yet significant challenges remain, both among those observed in 2014 and newly arisen. A significant shift has occurred to APC-funded OA, which is now a deeply entrenched model. Many research funders have taken increasingly strong (and shifting) roles to promote, shape, and reform OA, and there has been a proliferation of business models and experimentation. Piracy and extra-legal solutions to access remain the elephant in the room. These evolutions take place in a context of corporate capitalism and neoliberalism. We have seen that major changes can be made in relatively short time spans (e.g., Plan S and its uptake by major publishers), and we see a dire need to consider broad impacts, especially for scholars and publishers on the peripheries of conventional scholarly publishing. In this article, we outline major events and shifts in the interconnected academic, funding, and publishing landscapes and their impacts; we identify major hurdles that readers and authors now face; we use the Adaptive Leadership Framework to briefly examine paths that we see as the most promising; and we provide a foundation for the contributions from our peers that follow in this special issue.
Monomythic Time: Finn and the Hero’s Journey
(University of Kansas Libraries, 2020-07-10) Thomas, Paul
The Creative Use of Retconning
(University of Kansas Libraries, 2020-07-10) Thomas, Paul
Mentor is a Verb: Mapping your professional support network
(2023-10-11) Brooks-Kieffer, Jamene
The traditional idea of a one-to-one mentor/mentee relationship is a holdover from the centuries-old apprenticeship model of professional development. Yet, decades of research describe other effective mentoring relationships. In this interactive closing session, we examine modes of mentoring, reflect on our professional needs, and map our current and desired mentoring networks.
Women and men in library and information science scholarship: Authorship trends from 2003 to 2021
(Elsevier, 2024-08-19) Monroe-Gulick, Amalia; Weaver, Marla Danette; Morris, Sara E.
Library and information science (LIS) has long consisted of more women than men, at least in sheer numbers of library employees, but men are the primary authors of library literature. This study explores LIS literature published between 2003 and 2021 to identify if there are differences in the publishing patterns of women and men. The authors used content analysis to code the entire sample to identify overall subject trends after authors were categorized as women or men by mainly automated methods, using two R packages, genderize and ssa. The results show that there are overall inequities when compared to the profession as whole between the publishing rates of women and men in LIS, as well as differences in publication patterns by subjects and within specific journals. Shifts in subjects over the period under investigation did not increase the percentage of women publishing in the selected LIS journals. The authors conclude more research needs to be conducted to determine the cause of inequities in publishing not just among women and men, but all underrepresented voices in LIS.
Using Zotero for Citation Management: A Step-by-Step Guide to Organizing and Citing Your Research
(University of Kansas Libraries, 2023-08-21) Thomas, Paul A.
This guide will provide an overview of the essential features of Zotero, explaining in step-by-step detail how to download the program, create reference libraries, insert in-text citations into Word, and back-up your library into the cloud.
Development of an Empowering Language Assessment Tool for Type 1 Diabetes
(Research Caucus of the Medical Library Association, 2024-03-27) Geiger Wolfe, Gwen; Bowler-Hill, Sally; Acuff, Lisa
Introduction: This brief report describes the early development of an Empowering Language Assessment Tool (T1D-ELAT) for patient education materials (PEMs) designed for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D), consisting of a checklist to assess the frequency of disempowering language. Methods: The authors followed professional society guidelines to develop a checklist to quantify the use of disempowering words and phrases. We determined inclusion and exclusion criteria and grouped checklist terms into functional categories. We also collected descriptive characteristics about each PEM, such as publication date, authorship, and country of origin, and created a codebook defining these terms and descriptive characteristics. Results: The authors tested the checklist in two rounds and added nine term variations as a result. We removed the imperative can/can’t/cannot during testing because it was not consistently used as an imperative. Discussion: Pilot testing the checklist informed revisions to the checklist and study protocol. Future phases of this research project will also explore the context in which disempowering terms are used in these materials.
Demand driven acquisitions in academic libraries: A scoping review
(Elsevier, 2024-03-17) Monroe-Gulick, Amalia; Back, Andi; Geiger Wolfe, Gwen; Outhier, Sara; Morris, Sara E.
Demand driven acquisitions (DDA) have become commonplace in academic libraries, but little is known about how they are assessed. This scoping review provides a comprehensive study of print and electronic monographic DDA programs at academic libraries. The review includes an examination of the definition of DDA programs, methodological approaches, and the impact of DDA programs on established library collections. The research team's goals include outlining the current discourse on DDA and identifying gaps in the existing literature, as well as examining the potential for standardization within the profession regarding DDA terminology and definitions. Of 1758 records, 48 publications were identified for inclusion. Analysis of the included publications revealed most studies examined electronic DDA programs that were considered pilots. Overwhelmingly, the literature studied aspects of return on investment, circulation, and use. More subject points of investigation such as evaluation of materials, satisfaction of users or librarians, and quality were less studied. Further research on aspects of print DDA, how the COVID-19 Pandemic affected DDA, and more recently growing acquisition methods such as evidence-based acquisitions are needed.
Recommended by Librarians: A Computational Citation Analysis Methodology for Identifying and Examining Books Promoted in LibGuides
(American Library Association, 2024-03-18) Orth-Alfie, Carmen; Wolfe, Erin
To study library guides, as published on Springshare’s LibGuides platform, new approaches are needed to expand the scope of the research, ensure comprehensiveness of data collection, and reduce bias for content analysis. Computational methods can be utilized to conduct a nuanced and thorough evaluation that critically assesses the resources promoted in library guides. Web-based library guides are curated by librarians to provide easy access to high-quality information and resources in a variety of formats to support the research needs of their users. Recent scholarship considers library guides as valuable resources and as de facto publications, highlighting the need for critical study. In this article, the authors present a novel model for comprehensively gathering data about a specific genre of books from individual LibGuide pages and applying computational methods to explore the resultant data. Beginning with a pre-selected list of 159 books, we programmatically queried the titles using the LibGuides Community search engine. After cleaning and filtering the resultant data, we compiled a list of 20,484 book references (of which 6,212 are unique) on 1,529 LibGuide pages. By testing against inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure relevancy, we identified a total of 281 titles relevant to our topic. To gain insights for future study, citation analysis metrics are presented to reveal patterns of frequency, co-occurrence, and bibliographic coupling of books promoted in LibGuides. This proof-of-concept could be adopted for a variety of applications, including assessment of collections, public services, critical librarianship, and other complex questions to enable a richer and more thorough understanding of the information landscape of LibGuides.
Care of plastic objects
(Kansas Museum Association webinar series, 2023-07-06) Baker, Whitney
I routinely deal with plastics in my job as a library and archives conservator. Plastics conservation is a fairly new area for all of us, and conservators are still learning about how to care for these objects as they begin to actively deteriorate. Modern materials are challenging in new ways, with proprietary formulae, complex materials, and new deterioration challenges. Today I will focus on the current research and what we can take away from it to meet daily needs in a museum. Sadly, there is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution for storage of all plastics, as different plastics have different needs. This presentation comes out of my own research and tips I recently garnered from a webinar by Yvonne Shashoua, Research Professor at the University of Denmark—a chemist and leading researcher on plastics degradation. Unless otherwise noted, all images come from KU Libraries, University of Kansas.
Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the origins of the British Museum. [Review Essay]
(Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 2017) Baker, Whitney
Review of a published book.
The Role of Gelatin in Paper Permanence, Part II, Phase One: Gelatin as a Relative Humidity Buffer
(1997-12-15) Baker, Whitney
For over four decades, conservators and scientists have been interested in why papers produced in the 15th and 16th centuries have remained in much better condition than many modern papers. One factor, overlooked until recently, is the presence of gelatin as size in many early Western papers. Size was applied to finished sheets of paper in order to render them impervious to water and inks. Recent studies, such as the groundbreaking work by Barrett and Mosier, have determined that "a positive correlation may exist between the present, good condition of historical papers and the amount of gelatin size they contain." In their study, Barrett and Mosier examine gelatin in relation to calcium content, pH and lightness of paper color in order to determine which combination of factors affects permanence. While their research suggests that pH, calcium content and gelatin content may work together to improve paper permanence, Barrett and Mosier state that "gelatin is an important component in the chemical and physical systems of paper...that deserves additional research attention" (Barrett and Mosier 1995). As evidenced by Barrett and Mosier's conclusion, gelatin's role in promoting paper longevity is not well understood. It is known that amino acids of which gelatin is composed are able to buffer against the addition of both acidic and basic entities into paper. However, as Barrett and Mosier suggest, future work is needed on "temperature and humidity cycling to understand more fully the role of gelatin in paper stability" (Barrett and Mosier 1995).
Relationships among cost, citation, and access in journal publishing by an ecology and evolutionary biology department at a U.S. university
(PeerJ, 2023-01-04) Peterson, A. Townsend; Cobos, Marlon E.; Sikes, Benjamin A.; Soberon, Jorge; Osorio-Olvera, Luis; Bolick, Josh; Emmett, Ada
Background: Optimizing access to high-quality scientific journals has become an important priority for academic departments, including the ability to read the scientific literature and the ability to afford to publish papers in those journals. In this contribution, we assess the question of whether institutional investment in scientific journals aligns with the journals where researchers send their papers for publication, and where they serve as unpaid reviewers and editors. Methods: We assembled a unique suite of information about the publishing habits of our Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, including summaries of 3,540 journal publications by 35 faculty members. These data include economic costs of journals to institutions and to authors, benefits to authors in terms of journal prestige and citation rates, and considerations of ease of reading access for individuals both inside and outside the university. This dataset included data on institutional costs, including subscription pricing (rarely visible to scholars), and “investment” by scholars in supporting journals, such as time spent as editors and reviewers. Results: Our results highlighted the complex set of relationships between these factors, and showed that institutional costs often do not match well with payoffs in terms of benefits to researchers (e.g., citation rate, prestige of journal, ease of access). Overall, we advocate for greater cost-benefit transparency to help compare different journals and different journal business models; such transparency would help both researchers and their institutions in investing wisely the limited resources available to academics.
The Public Digital Humanities Institute - A National Endowment for the Humanities Institute to Support Academic & Community Collaborations in the Digital Humanities
(2024-01) Rosenblum, Brian; Tell, Dave; Fernández, Sylvia; Dwyer, Kaylen; Bishop, Sarah
The Public Digital Humanities Institute (PDHI) brought together teams of academics and community partners from 12 community-based digital humanities projects for an intensive week of digital humanities training and discussion at the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence, Kansas. The PDHI was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities program. It was organized and carried out by KU’s Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities (IDRH), under the direction of co-PI’s digital scholarly initiatives librarian Brian Rosenblum and professor of communication studies Dave Tell. This white paper discusses the PDHI's origins & goals, participating projects, curriculum & activities and outcomes. The PDHI Handbook provides access to slides, handouts and other resources presented at the Institute.
The informational “cosplay journey” of Star Wars cosplayers in the context of a Facebook group
(Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås, Sweden, 2023-09-15) Vardell, Emily; Thomas, Paul A.; Wang, Ting
INTRODUCTION. Research on personal information practices has increased in recent decades. Building on this current of thought, the present study explores information practices in the context of serious leisure, looking specifically at the Rey Cosplay Community Facebook group, an online community of Star Wars cosplayers. The work discusses how these fans seek, organize, and share relevant information during the process of making costumes. METHOD. This study used participant observation and semi-structured interviews to investigate information behaviours, including information seeking, organization, use, and sharing, of seventeen members in the Rey Cosplay Community with a purposive sampling strategy. ANALYSIS. The researchers transcribed and jointly coded the collected data with an open coding scheme to identify themes that emerged from the data. RESULTS. The cosplayers used a myriad of tools to seek, organize, and share information about costume making. Participants identified that their information practices had evolved over time, and they shared sophisticated strategies for sharing work-in-progress photos and updates as well as methods for organizing information for later use. CONCLUSION. There are a variety of information practices used when making a costume. Participants often seek and acquire relevant information on online platforms and use a combination of traditional physical tools and modern electronic tools to organize information. They also display a rich culture of sharing information when responding to other fans’ information needs. The overall structure that these information practices take can be neatly articulated as a sort of informational “cosplay journey”.
Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge
(Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association, 2023-09)
The intersection of scholarly communication librarianship and open education offers a unique opportunity to expand knowledge of scholarly communication topics in both education and practice. Open resources can address the gap in teaching timely and critical scholarly communication topics—copyright in teaching and research environments, academic publishing, emerging modes of scholarship, impact measurement—while increasing access to resources and equitable participation in education and scholarly communication. Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge is an open textbook and practitioner’s guide that collects theory, practice, and case studies from nearly 80 experts in scholarly communication and open education. Divided into three parts: *What is Scholarly Communication? *Scholarly Communication and Open Culture *Voices from the Field: Perspectives, Intersections, and Case Studies The book delves into the economic, social, policy, and legal aspects of scholarly communication as well as open access, open data, open education, and open science and infrastructure. Practitioners provide insight into the relationship between university presses and academic libraries, defining collection development as operational scholarly communication, and promotion and tenure and the challenge for open access. Scholarly Communication Librarianship and Open Knowledge is a thorough guide meant to increase instruction on scholarly communication and open education issues and practices so library workers can continue to meet the changing needs of students and faculty. It is also a political statement about the future to which we aspire and a challenge to the industrial, commercial, capitalistic tendencies encroaching on higher education. Students, readers, educators, and adaptors of this resource can find and embrace these themes throughout the text and embody them in their work.
With Plenty of Elbow Room: Planning New and Upgraded Spaces for Library and Archives Conservation and Audiovisual Preservation
(Sage, 2021-12) Baker, Whitney
In 2018, the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries upgraded from a tired, twenty-year-old basement space to a new, purpose-built conservation lab for library and archives collections. The new conservation lab, which is housed in the special collections and archives library, quadrupled available lab space for its conservators and fleet of student employees. The move afforded Conservation space in the same library as the most vulnerable collection materials. In addition, rooms in the special collections and archives library were repurposed for audiovisual (AV) preservation, creating two new spaces for film and video workflows and upgrading an existing small audio room. This paper will discuss the conservation and preservation lab construction literature and will serve as a practical exemplar of the challenges and successes of the planning process, including lessons learned and unexpected benefits.

Browse

Recent Submissions