B Sides Copyright (c) 2013 University of Iowa All rights reserved. http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides Recent documents in B Sides en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 14:07:53 PDT 3600 Where the Queer Things Are: Library Services to LGBTQ Youth http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/31 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/31 Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:36:37 PDT In an age of shrinking budgets, tough decisions and political tensions, libraries must have a strong justification for LGBTQ youth services that is grounded in credible research if they are to stand up to challenges. My research examines why these services are essential in a world that is still unsafe for far too many queer identified youth, how to best engage with the community and what resources libraries can provide to young LGBTQ information seekers. Literacy and education theory were used as a foundation for the examination of the impact literacy has on the development of self through the formation of personal identity, the importance of mentors, and the opportunity for action. Current research about providing services to the LGBTQ community was examined for best practices and effective methods. The most important factors in successful services to the LGBTQ community are authentic and comfortable interactions, and the integration of queer and non/queer resources in reader’s advisory and reference response for all patrons. While statistics on bullying and homophobic remarks indicate that conditions are improving, LGBTQ teens are still at great risk for homelessness, depression and suicide. Libraries must do everything possible to provide a safe space for LGBTQ youth to build their identity and interact with the community.

]]> Sarah B. Alexander How and Why, Not What and Where http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/29 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/29 Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:15:39 PST In a time when information expands at an exponential rate the idea that a university course could—or should—even approach comprehensive coverage of the resources in any field is unthinkable. Yet textbooks continue to be written with this approach of instruction. This article examines four texts in music library research instruction: A Guide to Library Research in Music by Pauline Shaw Bayne, Sourcebook for Research in Musicby Phillip D. Crabtree and Donald H. Foster, Music Library and Research Skills, by Jane Gottlieb and Music Research: A Handbook by Laurie J. Sampsel. Resources were analyzed based on their stated purpose, content and current applicability. The growing need for a new perspective on the instruction of library research skills that extends beyond the items themselves to the methods and strategies for information retrieval in a variety of contexts is proposed as an area for future examination.

]]> Sarah B. Alexander Promises to Keep: A Defense of Women's Studies in the Academy http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/27 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/27 Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:55:25 PST As we move beyond the third wave of feminism, some question the need for separate departments and degree programs focused on the study of women. This paper argues that Women’s Studies programs are necessary to the academy. This argument is made through a review of the literature on the history and development of Women’s Studies programs in order to examine the past, and a survey of the presence of Women’s Studies and LGBT programs in 159 colleges/universities in 2012 in an attempt to examine the present. The battle Women’s Studies has fought and continues to fight in order to assert itself as a valid field of study in the university, complicated by the struggle of establishing itself as an entirely new discipline rather than a branch of a larger one has resulted in an identity crisis surrounding issues of purpose and disciplinary canon. I argue that the biases and prejudices built into the structure of the university are still at play, and though they are subtler, they are no less insidious than before. Considering this structure is important for academic librarians who often work as liaisons for departments that each have internal and external structures and politics to navigate while working to provide the best possible service to faculty and students.

]]> Sarah Alexander Library 2.0: How Did We Get Here? A Resource Guide http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/26 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/26 Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:30:42 PST Technology has changed the resources and the ways libraries do business. It has also changed the ways in which library patrons seek information. In order to build discussion around this topic the term Library 2.0 was coined. Library 2.0 is a term and theory in which many librarians have an opinion. Whether it is an opinion that embraces the idea or not, understanding the range of definitions and theories behind Library 2.0 is key to understanding where this concept diverges from traditional library services and/or simply having new technology available or used in the library space. This resource guide points to a wide range of voices that have shaped the discussion of the term Library 2.0. It encompasses the variety and depth of the subject and suggests new areas that have been left untapped by much of the current work available on the topic.

]]> Jen Eilers Established, Emerging, or Phantom? The State of the Film Studies Discipline http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/25 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/25 Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:26:00 PST Despite decades in the university, the state of the film studies discipline is still much contested. This paper aims to trace film studies—albeit in a limited manner—from the minuscule stirrings of the discipline to its current state of uncertainty. By evaluating the establishment of the discipline’s boundaries and their subsequent shifts, film studies is revealed to have been most unfortunate in its timing. Just as film studies could have emerged as a fully-fledged discipline, the university’s own definition shifted, from an institution centered on culture to one centered on excellence. This shift in the university left film studies struggling to contend with a new objective—one which lacked empathy toward disciplines that cannot bring wealth or status to the university. Thus, film studies became a phantom discipline and its future is uncertain. Film studies may either gain credibility and strength, or it may become broken up into so many fragmented pieces that film will either exit the university in a hushed moment of defeat or be absorbed into various disciplines in the form of topics classes as well as a tool to bolster discussion. If film studies wishes to remain within the university, its best option may be to gradually redefine itself.

]]> Holly J. Petersen The Public As Collaborator: Towards Developing Crowdsourcing Models for Digital Research Initiatives http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/24 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/24 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:10:55 PDT Digital research projects often seek out large-scale data sets but have a small budget to achieve them. In their pursuit of using technology to discover something new, some scholars have turned to crowdsourcing strategies, where the efforts of individual volunteers can contribute to collective, significant data outcomes. How can examples of successful crowdsourcing projects inform future digital research initiatives? By looking at current examples of digital research projects using crowdsourcing, this research proposes new models for amassing data through the assistance of engaged publics. Inspired by the problems posed by building a large-scale database of metadata from mid-20th century small-press ephemera, this inquiry explores what outreach strategies work for different kinds of projects and with which publics. This research performs a qualitative content analysis of more than thirty digital research initiatives that rely on crowdsourcing strategies to amass data. Through their project websites, the initiatives were coded to determine the factors that motivated contributors and the electronic interfaces employed for digital delivery. The models created from this research fall along a spectrum with minimal requirements for technology and programming capacity to deploy strategies at one end and sophisticated requirements at the other. Motivational factors discovered include competition and reward systems inspired by games, personal contributions to discovery and historical narratives, and the pure entertainment of interest-driven learning. By identifying strategies that can inform approaches to scaling up digital research initiatives, these models provide a guide for scholars with boundless ideas and limited budgets.

]]> Melody H. Dworak Free as in Freedom, Not as in Beer: Free and Open Source Software ILS and the Library Community http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/23 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/23 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 06:50:28 PDT Over the past decade there has been an increasing interest in Free and/or Open Source Software (FOSS) in libraries— especially in FOSS Integrated Library Systems (ILS). Libraries across the globe are implementing programs such as Koha and Evergreen. Like any topic in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field today, there are several voices weighing in on FOSS ILS, coming from differing epistemologies based in theory and philosophy, and practice. In an ideal world, these voices would inform each other in a circular pattern, perpetuating a fruitful development of practice based in theory and theory based in practice. In real life, there are always tensions. This paper will explore FOSS ILS using the philosophical as well as practical perspectives present in the larger discussion.

]]> Kelly J. Thompson Where’s the “T”?: Improving Library Service to Community Members Who Are Transgender-Identified http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/22 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/22 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 06:47:03 PDT While efforts have been made in recent years to improve library service to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identified library users, these efforts have generally overlooked the particular needs of transgender communities. As LIS professionals, we are called to provide library service to all members of our communities, particularly those who have traditionally been marginalized. This bibliographic essay provides a look at the unique information needs and barriers to library service which library users who are trangender-identified commonly face, as well as those resources which can assist libraries in ensuring they are adequately meeting the needs of these communities.

]]> Kelly J. Thompson A Conceptual Framework Model for Information Literacy Instruction: Pedagogical Tool and Guided Student Framework http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/21 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/21 Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:39:27 PDT A survey of college level information literacy textbooks and instructional materials reveals a focus on context specific, skills-based lessons that introduce students to library-based, academic research. While this narrow focus can promote success within an academic context, it does not prepare students with transferrable skills. It fails to equip them with flexible concepts and definitions applicable to new media technologies and inventions (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, web development tools, etc.) and to many of students’ future professional activities and environments.

Through pedagogical inquiry and an analysis of information theory literature, a conceptual framework was developed that provides students a learning model that supports development of college specific information literacy skills, while also providing a framework for investigating the social construction and dynamics of information use in various information environments. Combining theories of information seeking (Dervin 2003 & Chatman 1996, 2001), information behavior modeling (Wilson 1999), situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991), and the concept of semiotic domains (Gee 2003), this framework defines and situates concepts of ‘information resources,’ ‘information technologies,’ ‘information assumptions and beliefs,’ and ‘information actors and agents’ within socially constructed ‘information environments.’

Situating these concepts within an information environment prompts students to investigate the social construction of information resources, and encourages them to ask critical questions regarding structural constraints on information use and production. Understanding information use environments as socially constructed and using the concepts included in this framework, students can understand information use situationally, both within and without the college environment.

]]> Katie Hassman Why I Can't Love the Homemade Semantic Web http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/20 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/20 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:39:30 PST Almost all information professionals agree that the web needs to move to a semantic structure. While work is proceeding in this area, movements to get individual web authors to use semantic markup tools have also been on the rise. This author argues that such efforts are ill conceived and he proposes an automated alternative.

]]> Jason A. Bengtson Cloud Computing and Health Information http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/19 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/19 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:12:46 PST Leah C. Osterhaus Freedom of Information Act and Libraries http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/18 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/18 Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:35:20 PDT The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) makes government information accessible to everyone, including libraries and library patrons. The Patriot Act has undermined the FOIA and put the freedom to read at risk.

]]> Katherine A. Bullen Open Source Software Libraries http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/17 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/17 Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:48:39 PDT Open source software is not something to be afraid of! It's software that you can modify, fix, add to, and distribute to others. Benefits are numerous, including having the ability to create good software that works for you and your library, all while paying a fraction of the cost that you might spend on proprietary software. This website introduces librarians to using open source software and provides tips for implementing and evaluating your transition, ideas for funding, and suggestions for open source software to use in your library. Website can be viewed online at http://slis.uiowa.edu/~slochhaas/osslibraries/

]]> Sherry Lochhaas et al. Learning Beyond Borders http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/16 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/16 Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:27:42 PDT Dwelling in a "Borderland" between academic and narrative writing, and drawing from the work of Gloria Anzaldu'a, bell hooks, and Michel Foucault, this essay critically confronts and transgresses the disciplinary structure of information production, both inside the Academy and out. Scholars of Hip-Hop will be especially interested in the author's analysis of Hip-Hop as a scholarly discourse, and her argument that different genres of scholarly discourse, such as Hip-Hop and MLA-style English, can and indeed should be blended within the Academy to stimulate new ways of thinking.

]]> Rachel D. Hall Recent titles on the Global Climate Crisis and Ecology: a basic collection for mid-size and branch libraries http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/15 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/15 Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:56:54 PDT A bibliography for the general public and for print collection development by public and undergraduate academic libraries on the topics of Environment, Ecology, and Climate Change. Presented as a poster at the Florida Library Association 2010 convention.

]]> James C. Swaner Book Review: The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart. By Noel Carroll. New York: Routledge, 1990. 272 pp. $39.95 ISBN 0-415-90145-6 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/14 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/14 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 06:57:18 PDT Katherine A. Bullen Understanding and Creating Comics with Seventh Graders http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/13 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/13 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:50:29 PDT During the spring semester of 2010, as part of my graduate program in English Education, I took a class titled American Comic Book. I took what I learned there, turned around, and immediately applied it to my own teaching. I teach 7th grade language arts and developed a unit on understanding and creating comics, pulling from what I was learning in the class at the University of Iowa, and utilized some other resources including Great Source's Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing, and ideas from other books on using graphic novels as a teaching tool. The unit was taught during April and May of this year. I have collected my lesson plans, examples of student work, and much, much more on a website, http://sites.google.com/site/7thgradecomicsunit/.

]]> Amelia M. Carl Reading Ireland: Print, reading, and social change in early modern Ireland, a book review http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/12 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/12 Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:31:10 PDT Annette Bramstedt An Introduction to the Graphic Novel http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/11 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/11 Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:04:39 PDT This is a slide show from a presentation, "An Introduction to the Graphic Novel." The presentation covered the definition of a graphic novel, how to read a graphic novel, the history of graphic novels, and suggested further readings.

]]> Vicky Maloy Environmental Sciences LibGuide http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/10 http://ir.uiowa.edu/bsides/10 Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:27:15 PDT The Environmental Sciences Program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program at the University of Iowa. It includes faculty from the Departments of Anthropology, Geography, Biology, Geoscience, Chemistry, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. Students pursuing a BS in Environmental Sciences can pursue one of four tracks: Biosciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, or Hydrosciences. The four tracks are very different, however there is some overlap with elective courses and there is a set of required foundations courses that all students must take. The interdisciplinary nature of any environmental science topic requires a student to have access to resources across many disciplines. This potential overlap in information needs lead to the decision to create one LibGuide for the Environmental Sciences Program. This guide will serve as a general guide to environmental resources for all of the students in the program. Future guides may be created that focus on resources for each of the four specific tracks in the Environmental Sciences Program.

]]> Leah C. Osterhaus