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Historical and modern scientific thought is dominated by the English language, colonized science, patriarchal norms, and Westernized "ways of knowing." By making materials that lie outside that narrative discoverable (e.g., non-Western science, Indigenous/Aboriginal knowledge, women in science, etc.) we can assert that science is a global endeavor by representing diverse scientists on physical library shelves or ebook "shelves." The Cataloging and Metadata Librarian and Science and Outreach Librarian at Furman University, a small liberal arts college, collaborated on a project to address discriminatory practices in the catalog records of a subset of the libraries' STEM collection. Spurred by another project to update deprecated Cutters in Library of Congress call numbers, we assessed collection content with an eye to improve future collection development and created a local method for collocating DEI materials within an Alma consortium catalog. The intended goals of the project were to update the collection, improve metadata to increase discoverability, and develop an auditing process to use for other collections.

Scholarship of teaching and learning plays an important role in informing educational practices in every discipline. The aim of this study was to identify the trends of research on library and information science (LIS) education. A total of 1,986 articles on LIS education published from 1999 to 2018 were retrieved from bibliographic databases using topical and thesaurus-based queries. They were analyzed for their topics, methods, educational level and aspect, country, and outlet. The results showed that curriculum (what we teach) received more research attention than pedagogy (how we teach). Teaching organization of information (including cataloguing, classification, and metadata) was the most researched topic. Educational aspects of some sectors such as archives and record keeping and academic libraries have received more attention, while some other sectors such as school libraries have not been covered as widely. Survey was the most popular research method used in research articles. There were 134 articles covering LIS education in the United States, representing the greatest coverage by geographic region. While some topics such as serials librarianship and law were discussed in early 2000, in recent years topics such as political literacy, crisis management, privacy, digital humanities, and GLAM convergence have emerged in the literature.

How can novel AI techniques be made and put to use in the library? Combining methods from data and library science, this article focuses on Natural Language Processing technologies, especially in national libraries. It explains how the National Library of Sweden's collections enabled the development of a new BERT language model for Swedish. It also outlines specific use cases for the model in the context of academic libraries, detailing strategies for how such a model could make digital collections available for new forms of research, from automated classification to enhanced searchability and improved OCR cohesion. Highlighting the potential for cross-fertilizing AI with libraries, the conclusion suggests that while AI may transform the workings of the library, libraries can also play a key role in the future development of AI.

Applying a content warning to metadata and archival descriptions is a practice that libraries increasingly embrace, even though the American Library Association considers content labeling to be censorship under the Library Bill of Rights. The language used in a content warning, such as "offensive" or "harmful," carries important implications for the responsibility the library assumes and the actions it might take. Before deciding to apply a content warning, libraries should consider a range of questions posed by such warnings and be prepared to respond to the inherent conflict they create with librarianship's commitment to intellectual freedom and anti-censorship.

Map librarianship, in the past incorporating duties involving acquisition, cataloging, or curation of physical map and atlas collections, has evolved into a profession often requiring knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) software and data. This study examines descriptions for map and geospatial academic library positions from 2015 to 2020 with a goal of observing trends in requirements and specific duties for these roles. Institutions are recruiting individuals with strong backgrounds in geospatial technologies for some positions. However, a Master of Library and Information Science degree is still preferred for new hires in this field. Graduate library and information science programs can support future academic librarians by incorporating coursework related to geospatial data and traditional map resources into their curricula.

Lack of funding, equipment, and expertise tops the list of reasons standing in the way of many smaller cultural heritage organizations digitizing their archival collections. Expanding on existing relationships with regional public libraries and museums, a pilot project was developed to address these reasons, partnering a university library's experience and expertise with a small institution's need to digitize their unique "hidden" collections. This article presents a case study of a university library's grant-funded pilot project to explore the feasibility of creating sustainable regional digitization services and hosted digital collections for public libraries and cultural heritage institutions. It also considers how community partnership projects are especially susceptible to the effects of external events, such as a pandemic.

Discovery of digital items by scholars and the public is highly dependent upon effective metadata to ensure inclusion and prioritization in search engines. Subject descriptions based on controlled vocabulary, such as Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH), are particularly useful to enhance discovery, but they may be expensive to provide. In this case study we compared the results of computer-assisted indexing with manual selection of subject terms as part of an effort to enhance findability of journal information at the issue level. Our results suggest that incorporating both computer and human processes provide the highest impact for discovery of distinctive digital collections.

Libraries continue to spearhead initiatives to incentivize instructors to adopt, adapt, and create open educational resources (OER). However, these programs often do not explicitly require educators to preserve the OER they create. Drawing on an analysis of semi-structured interviews with six experts, this article presents considerations for libraries interested in preserving OER and recommendations for OER librarians who are new to digital preservation. The study makes an argument for why and how libraries could begin to preserve OER. Future areas of investigation include better understanding how OER repositories preserve such resources and how consortia models can support this work.

This study identifies challenges and directions for 3D/VR repository standards and practices. As 3D technologies become more affordable and accessible, academic libraries need to implement workflows, standards, and practices that support the full lifecycle of 3D data. This study invited experts across several disciplines to analyze current national repository and preservation efforts. Outlined models provide frameworks to identify features, examine workflows, and determine implications of 3D data on current preservation models. Participants identified challenges for supporting 3D data, including intellectual property and fair use; providing repository system management beyond academic libraries; seeking guidance outside of academia for workflows to model.

3D printers represent a significant financial investment for academic libraries. The development of makerspaces and other library provided services centered around this technology is a testament to the role these technologies can play in offering new resources to students. However, given the investment it behooves the academic library to work to develop new models of applying 3D printing in other areas in order to maximize these resources. One way in which the academic library can extend the use of 3D printers is by offering them as a mechanism for creating custom designed 3D models for use in the classroom. By closing the skills gap in providing both the printer and the ability to design objects for faculty, academic libraries can open a new avenue for providing instructional services on campus.

Despite the widespread adoption of streaming video by academic libraries, there has been little discussion about how video content is discovered and accessed through the library catalog as compared to vendor platforms. This article explores the current status of video resources in the library catalog to better understand how users find and access streaming content. MARC records were evaluated, and searches were performed to gauge issues related to metadata quality and its impact on discovery. The study reveals new trends in how users access streaming content for teaching, learning, and research.

This paper describes an investigation into whether institutional repositories at member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) provide publicly available metadata documentation via the repositories' websites. The study compares the results of a September 2017 survey with findings from a review of ARL institutional repository websites. Slightly more than half of ARL institutional repositories do provide metadata documentation. Implications of the results are discussed, including specific research questions for moving forward. A call to reimagine documentation as a tool of transparency is delivered.

This study aims at providing in-depth perspectives on the ways in which cataloging and metadata professionals have coped with RDA training and implementation through an e-mail interview method. Results show that the performance-based, "learn-as-you-go," peer learning method is found by practitioners to be most effective in acquiring and applying RDA knowledge and skills to real work situations. In terms of local RDA training resources, catalogers in research libraries have access to many special in-house training sessions. In contrast, those working in non-research libraries rely mostly on webinars and other online learning materials. The study shows that different versions of RDA instruction and training materials produced by the Library of Congress and other organizations have contributed to some confusion among practitioners. This indicates that it is critical for practitioners to access up-to-date, standard training materials that include concrete examples, best practices, and practical workbooks. The study also points out that there is currently a gap for practitioners between their day-to-day cataloging practices and RDA principles based on the FRBR framework. As RDA moves us to a Linked Data world, there will be a critical need to bridge this gap. The results also indicate that considerable efforts need to be made to provide more training materials in relatively "blank" areas, such as special, non-book formats, and foreign language materials.

This study aims at gaining a better understanding of the current state and needs of RDA training among cataloging and metadata practitioners. Using nationwide survey data focusing on the academic library sector, this study finds that while training activities since RDA's release in 2010 show a positive correlation with catalogers' levels of RDA knowledge, it also finds an alarmingly low level of reported familiarity with a broad range of RDA topics even on the eve of U.S. national RDA implementation. The most consistent finding is the existence of a substantial divide in professional preparation for RDA between practitioners in research universities and 4-year colleges and universities. This indicates that it is particularly important to develop effective training programs that will meet the needs of practicing professionals in smaller cataloging and metadata departments and units so that the same training opportunities are offered regardless of their institutional affiliations and local resources available. In terms of future training needs, a clear emphasis is placed on practical RDA topics and questions such as RDA core elements, new and changed instructions in RDA, RDA vocabularies and concepts, and RDA in relation to MARC 21. The results also indicate that convenience, cost, or flexibility is among the most important factors determining preferred modes of delivering professional training for RDA.

East Tennessee State University developed a workflow to add journal publications to their institutional repository and faculty profiles using three tools: Zotero for entering metadata, SHERPA/RoMEO for checking copyright permissions, and Unpaywall for locating full-text documents. This study evaluates the availability and accuracy of the information and documents provided by Zotero, SHERPA/RoMEO, and Unpaywall for journal publications in four disciplines. The tools were less successful with works authored by arts and humanities and education faculty in comparison to works authored by medicine and health sciences and social and behavioral sciences faculty. The findings suggest that publisher practices contributed to the disciplinary differences.

Based on a comparison of two nearly identical surveys in 2010 and 2016, this study examines the deepening practitioner concern over the use of social tagging within digital collections during the past six years. While participants reported a greater level of experience and increased use of social tagging, concerns regarding control, consistency, and potential abuse strengthened over the six years of the study. The authors discuss several potential causes for this increase and suggest future directions for social tagging.

Data management is a way for liaison librarians to support faculty research. American liaison librarians face new demands in data management due to expanding public access guidelines. This article gives advice for librarians new to data management, with the specific case of agriculture. For librarians supporting agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture [USDA NIFA] data management plan [DMP] requirements are a challenge and an opportunity. Agricultural libraries can learn to support faculty in how to write a plan that addresses the NIFA DMP sections of expected data type, data format, data storage and preservation, data sharing and public access, roles and responsibilities, and monitoring and reporting. Particular challenges that arise for DMPs in agrisciences include the diversity of subjects, multiple metadata and taxonomic systems, and the heterogeneity of research and data. To deal with this, data consultations are particularly critical.

This article presents the results of a study of academic e-books that compared the metadata and search results from major academic e-book platforms. The authors collected data and performed a series of test searches designed to produce the same result regardless of platform. Testing, however, revealed metadata-related errors and significant variation in search results that could impact the user experience. This article describes how other libraries could perform this type of testing and how this information could be used to inform the selection of e-books that are available on multiple platforms.

Open access institutional repositories can be ill-equipped to manage the complexity of research outputs from departments of fine arts, media, drama, music, cultural heritage, and the creative arts in general. The U.K.-based Kultur project was funded to create a flexible multimedia repository model using EPrints software. The project launched the first arts based institutional repositories at the University of the Arts London and University for the Creative Arts. Ten years later, these pioneering repositories are still evolving in response to the needs of arts researchers, and in the context of rapid changes in the scholarly communications landscape. This article discusses the evolution of scholarly repositories in the creative arts, with the aim of reducing the under-representation of arts research in open access repositories.

According to constructivist theory of learning, new knowledge is learned on the basis of what is already known by learners. Thus for an emerging and transformative technology such as Linked Data to be learned, the technology must be made relevant for learners and must be compatible with their skillset. Designing and developing Linked Data applications challenges traditional web developers to think differently at every stage of the design and development process, starting from data modeling all the way to presenting data on the Linked Data web. Thus by building on existing skills and praxis of web developers, this article presents a case study of implementing Linked Data application in an academic library utilizing the traditional LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL and PHP) technology stack.

This article will highlight key points in the process of collaboration, creation, and assessment of a digital collection intended to be used initially as a classroom tool, in addition to being a model of digital scholarship that can be used for research from anywhere in the world. This project originated from a class assignment for a course in Physical Education. Collaborators include a faculty member, two librarians, digital scholarship staff, a digital initiative coordinator, and student assistants.

This study analyzed digital item metadata and keywords from Internet search engines to learn what metadata elements actually facilitate discovery of digital collections through Internet keyword searching and how significantly each metadata element affects the discovery of items in a digital repository. The study found that keywords from Internet search engines matched values in eight metadata elements and resulted in landing visits to the digital repository. Findings of the study indicate that three specific metadata elements are effective in enhancing discoverability of digital collections through Internet search engines, including Dublin Core metadata elements Title, Description, and Subject.

The increasing interdisciplinarity of scientific research creates both challenges and opportunities for librarians. The liaison model may be inadequate for supporting campus research that represents multiple disciplines and geographically dispersed departments. The identification of units, researchers, and projects is a first step in planning and providing support for research and publication. The proposed research audit model seeks to inventory research projects and personnel for interdisciplinary biomedical research using a relational database. The innovative use of a discipline-specific ontology as descriptive metadata holds promise for revealing connections that might not otherwise be discovered.

In 2013-2014, Brooks Library at Central Washington University (CWU) launched library content in three systems: a digital asset-management system, an institutional repository (IR), and a web-based discovery layer. In early 2014, the archives at the library began to use these systems to disseminate media recently digitized from legacy formats. As the project progressed, the archives noted that these systems--while providing valuable storage and discovery capabilities--posed challenges when it came to metadata, interoperability, cost, preservation, and ease of access. This article details the experience of the archives in its first year using these systems.

Successfully providing access to special collections of digital geospatial data in academic libraries relies upon complete and accurate metadata. Creating and maintaining metadata using specialized standards is a formidable challenge for libraries. The Ontario Council of University Libraries' Scholars GeoPortal project, which created a shared geospatial data infrastructure, involved centrally curating metadata for shared geospatial data collections, using a collaborative and cost-effective consortial model. This article presents the background and findings of the Scholars GeoPortal project. Through the development of advanced library systems and expertise, libraries in Ontario have improved discovery and access to geospatial data for researchers.

This article describes the application of electronic resources management (ERM) to digital repository management at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The authors discuss electronic resources management techniques, through the application of "Techniques for Electronic Management," which greatly enhanced and improved the management of their digital repository. This application follows the life cycle of the digital repository items and their ongoing maintenance and provides an enlightening perspective for library staff performing similar functions of managing repositories at their institutions.

Current users of academic libraries are avid readers of graphic novels. These thought-provoking materials are used for leisure reading, in instruction, and for research purposes. Libraries need to take care in providing access to these resources. This study analyzed the cataloging practices and social tagging of a specific list of graphic novel titles in the academic libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Results found that of the 668 graphic novel records 68 (10.17 percent) used the genre heading "graphic novel" and 99 (14.8 percent) were tagged. This limited access could be improved by using social tagging and genre heading.

The incorporation of visual resources in academia is becoming increasingly popular. The Cousins Hereward Postcard Collection comprises 212 postcards that depict social, historical, cultural, and economic activities in Jamaica during the period 1900-1912. Illustrations include social conditions of the working class and peasantry, natural history elements, and aspects of language and culture. The postcards also cover transportation and production of primary agricultural produce. Local folk forms are represented in a series of alphabet cards and Jamaican proverbs that use the local dialect. The collection was digitized, and metadata were added. The article also discusses lessons learned from this project.

The University of Michigan Library wanted to learn more about the kinds of searches its users were conducting through the "one search" search box on the Library Web site. Library staff conducted two investigations. A preliminary investigation in 2011 involved the manual review of the 100 most frequently occurring queries conducted through the site search box over the course of a month. Those 100 search terms accounted for 16 percent of total queries and were largely one-word searches for databases. In the follow-up investigation, the Library embarked on a more ambitious exploration of the 454,443 searches conducted during the winter 2011 semester, devising a method for selecting, categorizing, and summarizing user search queries. A sample of 1,201 searches from the search query logs was examined; after eliminating duplicate searches, there were 992 unique terms available for categorization. Using a non-overlapping sample of queries, a rubric was developed for categorizing user searches. Each of seven library staff members reviewed all unique terms in the sample to categorize them into the best fitting category from the rubric. After establishing a threshold for reliability among the individuals categorizing the queries, 862 unique search terms were analyzed. Based on this analysis, the most frequent kinds of searches conducted in the winter semester in 2011 on the University of Michigan Library's Web site were specific databases (28 percent), topical/exploratory types of queries (28 percent), and books (including searches by title, ISBN, call number, or a combination thereof) (16 percent).Within the sample, known-item searches comprised nearly half (44 percent) of searches in the sample. Another fifth (20 percent) of total searches were categorized as "exploratory," supporting the need to provide broader, subject-based paths to information through the site. Somewhat surprisingly, there were a small number of article searches (article titles, or mixed searches of journal names and authors and/or title words) in the search box--an indication that users understand the University of Michigan Library primary search box is not for articles.

The study looked into the 307 Koha libraries listed in Breeding's Library Technology Guides. Since all the tag clouds in Koha are user-contributed, their adoption and usage can shed light on the extent to which libraries are supporting user tagging. The research also revealed that public library users are more actively involved in tagging than academic library users, even though more academic libraries than public libraries enabled the tagging function in their OPACs (58% versus 49%). (Contains 6 figures.)

Librarians regularly encounter students who struggle to understand and apply information literacy concepts. A qualitative survey administered to information literacy practitioners asked about troublesome content and analyzed results using the threshold concepts pedagogical framework first described by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. A threshold concept transforms the learner's view of content and helps integrate previously learned material; threshold concepts are portals that, once traversed, bring insight into how to think and act like a practitioner within a discipline. This project uses the data collected to propose seven threshold concepts for information literacy. (Contains 3 figures and 25 notes.)

The management and curation of digital geospatial data has become a central concern for many academic libraries. Geospatial data is a complex type of data critical to many different disciplines, and its use has become more expansive in the past decade. The University of Idaho Library maintains a geospatial data repository called the Interactive Numeric and Spatial Information Data Engine for Idaho (INSIDE Idaho) to support the land-grant research and outreach mission of the university. INSIDE Idaho-enabled research projects show that curating geospatial data requires a flexible, continuing partnership with researchers. First, changing access formats and data publishing protocols lead to cases in which the data are frequently disseminated in new ways. Second, researchers' changing expectations about data reuse, as well as their own practices, require a repository to be both responsive and communicative. A strong curatorial process involves enabling new research and applications to be developed from the repository's data collections. Third, the experience with INSIDE Idaho suggests building a culture of data management awareness at an institution can be as valuable a use of a library's time as working to curate the data; that is, developing the local culture improves the efficiency of the curation process, most notably in the case of metadata. The experiences described in this article support the idea that academic libraries must develop infrastructure, policies, skills, and relationships to manage and curate research data successfully. (Contains 4 notes.)

Developing collection-level surveys to expose hidden collections in special collections and archives departments within ARL libraries has received a great deal of scholarly attention in the recent years. Numerous standards have been explored, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. This paper summarizes some of the major initiatives in collection-level surveys, descriptions, and preliminary records. A comparison of metadata structures is used to build a preliminary record model that provides a standard description that is easily adapted to various institutions and all formats. This preliminary record model is applied to special collections materials at the University of Colorado at Boulder as a test case, and further areas of research are discussed.