Download a PDF of the conference schedule here.
2021 Vision for the Future: Open and Accessible
May 19th, 2021
8:30 – 9:00 am: Housekeeping Items/Slide Deck Running/Set-up
9:00 – 9:15 am: Welcome, ENY/ACRL President
9:15 – 10:15 am: Keynote Speaker: Sebastian Karcher
Sebastian Karcher is the Associate Director of the Qualitative Data Repository and Research Assistant Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. His main interests are in research transparency, management and curation of qualitative data, and the integration of technology into scholarly workflows. He is an active contributor to several scholarly open source projects, including Zotero and the Citation Style Language, and has taught widely on digital technology and data management. Sebastian holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University and has published in both social science journals such as International Studies Quarterly and Socio-Economic Review and information science journals such as Nature Scientific Data and Data Science Journal. His talk will be titled “Listening to Open Science’s Skeptics”.
10:15 – 10:20 am: Break
10:20 – 11:20 am: Short Session Group 1
- New Visions for Old Tools: Reinventing Libguides for Online Instruction during COVID
- I Get by with a Little Help From my Friends: Access to Peer Research Assistance During the Pandemic and Beyond
- Conversations with Students: Using an Advisory Board for Student-Driven Feedback
11:20 – 11:25 am: Break
11:25 – 12:25 am: Breakout Session
- Developing a Successful Approach to Database Accessibility Evaluation and Review
12:25 – 1:30 pm: Lunch, Business Meeting, Break
1:30 – 2:15 pm: Combined Lightning and Short Session
- Lightning: Pandemic Pedagogy Playlist: A top ten countdown of practical best practices for online information literacy instruction
- Lightning: Distrust in institutions: Reference and library instruction in an infodemic
- Short: Beyond Breakout Rooms: Participatory Engagement Tools in Virtual Spaces
2:15 – 3:00 pm: Poster Session/Vendors/Break
- Content Analysis: A Research Method You Can Count On (Or Not)
- Who Writes Traditional Textbooks? Who Writes OERs? An examination.
- From Adoption to Creation, Expanding an Established OER Program
- Building Synergy between the Institutional Repository and Scholarly Communication
3:00 – 4:00 pm: Short Session Group 2
- Unbound Librarians: Navigating the challenges and opportunities of remote work while starting a new position
- Supporting OER Sustainability by Educating Faculty on Creative Commons Licensing
- Controlled Digital Lending & Course Reserves
4:00 – 4:15 pm: Concluding Remarks
Session Abstracts
New Visions for Old Tools: Reinventing Libguides for Online Instruction during COVID
By Lisa Czirr (SUNY Cortland), Hilary Wong (SUNY Cortland), and Jeremy Pekarek (SUNY Cortland)
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of preparation and delivery of information literacy sessions. Long popular among librarians, course guides were originally intended to supplement in-person instruction, serving as pathfinders listing “best bet databases” and other resources in a simplified way. To adapt to the loss of in-person teaching, librarians at SUNY Cortland have reimagined how we use libguides to serve current needs with online teaching, such as making them into virtual handouts, showcasing asynchronous tutorials, displaying assessment/polling options, or applying short activities. In this session, librarians will discuss how we adapted and implemented guides for different disciplines and modes of delivery.
I Get by with a Little Help From my Friends: Access to Peer Research Assistance During the Pandemic and Beyond
By Alexandra Wohnsen (Hamilton College) and Glynis Asu (Hamilton College)
Hear how Hamilton College’s Research & Instructional Design Student Tutor Program has expanded hours and services both in response to and in spite of the pandemic. We have expanded services by adding live drop-in Zoom support in addition to in-person, email, phone, and 24/7 chat services. We have also added a new service area, data science, available exclusively in our Zoom support center. This expansion of service has added another facet to our ethos of meeting students where they are, now with peer support we are able to do so in terms of location as well as skill level. Looking forward, we hope to bring data science tutoring to a physical location and bring back a service location we have closed temporarily. Learn more about our dynamic new management structure that allows professional staff to focus on their strengths and diversify our student workforce’s skills and services.
Conversations with Students: Using an Advisory Board for Student-Driven Feedback
By Cori Wilhelm (SUNY Canton) and Johanna Lee (SUNY Canton)
SUNY Canton’s Southworth Library Learning Commons (SLLC) is a student-centered space which prioritizes student feedback. We have found our most valuable feedback comes directly from conversations with our students. To cultivate these conversations, directors of each department in the Learning Commons – the Library, Tutoring Center, and Information Services HelpDesk – host a regular, constructive student focus group, the SLLC Advisory Board.
Students representing our diverse campus meet with us throughout the academic year. When COVID shifted more students online, we adapted our group to meet our students virtually. We discuss how our students engage (or don’t engage) with the Learning Commons’ resources, what they would change if they could, and their ideas or suggestions for our departments. Although guided by pointed questions, these organic meetings often result in unexpected and candid conversations, and lead to meaningful results. Changes made as a result of Advisory Board suggestions include altering and improving our space, additions to our tutoring and technology offerings, and changes to our services available for remote students. This presentation will give a brief overview of how the group was created and how it functions, lessons learned in the process, and suggestions for other libraries interested in creating a similar group.
Attendees will explore what types of conversations have led to the most meaningful changes, and will learn tips for how to form a similar student advisory board in their library.
Developing a Successful Approach to Database Accessibility Evaluation and Review
By Carli Spina (Fashion Institute of Technology), Colleen Lougen (SUNY New Paltz), and Yvonne Kester (SUNY Library Services)
Accessibility is vital to offering equitable access to library materials to all users. Yet, many of our electronic resources are inaccessible and present significant barriers to our users. To address this problem, libraries must take an active role in evaluating and advocating for e-resource accessibility. Many understand the importance of this issue. However, many library staff lack the experience, expertise, and time, making it difficult to integrate this work into collection development and e-resource management workflows. The SUNY Library Accessibility Cohort has worked to address these issues at SUNY institutions by working together to gain experience with accessibility topics, develop tools to support VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) collection and review, and create best practices, templates, and resource collections to support librarians interested in undertaking this work on their own campuses. Through this Cohort model, the group has not only managed to review a significant number of VPATs for resources shared by many SUNY campuses but has also developed a successful approach to shared professional development in this area. In this presentation, the Cohort members will introduce the structure of their work and demonstrate the process for VPAT evaluation that they have developed and the supporting documentation that is available for use by other libraries.
Pandemic Pedagogy Playlist: A top ten countdown of practical best practices for online information literacy instruction
By Lisa Czirr (SUNY Cortland)
There has been considerable research into online teaching best practices, even including information literacy instruction specifically. But which of those best practices really make the cut when it comes down to actually putting them to use, particularly for novice online instructors? This presentation will feature a brief list of the top best practice ideas for one-shot information literacy instruction, based on experiences from both synchronous and asynchronous delivery.
Distrust in institutions: Reference and library instruction in an infodemic
By Angela Hackstadt (University at Albany) and Abby Adam (University at Albany)
Librarians strive to educate patrons and curb the spread of disinformation by providing reference services, research consultations, and instruction in information literacy. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into stark relief deceptive information practices used to further political agendas. We focus on the dissemination of Covid-19 disinformation by the United States government, particularly the Trump White House where the federal pandemic response was centered. The consequences of Covid-19 disinformation disseminated at the federal level continue, such as Covid-19 denial, distrust in government institutions, distrust in science, and over 545,000 deaths in the U.S. We identify different kinds of deceptive information practices deployed by the Executive Branch that contributed to an already fraught information ecosystem. We discuss how this affects academic librarians who work with government information, as well as potential solutions found in public health, critical disinformation studies, information literacy, and scholarly communications.
Beyond Breakout Rooms: Participatory Engagement Tools in Virtual Spaces
By Jamia Williams (SUNY Brockport), Tarida Anantachai (Syracuse University), and Camile Chesley (University at Albany)
Even prior to the pandemic, keeping students engaged during the traditional library one-shot was a challenging task for librarians. Engagement is even trickier one year into the pandemic as librarians and faculty battle Zoom fatigue, blank screens, and ongoing technical and digital divide issues. Many instructors and library workers alike were challenged by the initial sudden shift to online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom over a year ago and are now contending with the continued exhaustion of our still very screen-heavy environments.
In this presentation, three librarians from different institutions will provide tips and introduce examples of various tools that have been used to enhance interaction, solicit feedback, and build rapport in the classroom—both in one-shot instruction sessions as well as full credit courses. In doing so, they will also discuss how the mindful application of such tools can also be applied to provide feedback mechanisms, support, and enhanced engagement opportunities with their colleagues, including within virtual meetings and other online working spaces. Presenters will showcase one of these virtual engagement tools with the attendees.
Unbound Librarians: Navigating the challenges and opportunities of remote work while starting a new position
Lori Wienke (SUNY Oneonta), Eunkyung Lee (UMass Boston), and Jennifer Jensen (SUNY Oneonta).
Starting a new job can be stressful in the best of times. Add a global pandemic and remote work to the mix and we had our work cut out for us! This is a tale of three librarians who started new positions remotely during the pandemic and the challenges and opportunities we encountered along the way.
Remote work can be difficult with issues of isolation, time management, and navigating the work/life balance. We missed the convenience and opportunity that face-to-face onboarding offers new employees, such as informal conversations over coffee or meals. Despite the inherent challenges of working from a distance, we discovered opportunities to reimagine, discover, and implement new ways of working in our respective positions. We will share our experiences (pros and cons) of learning our way around new libraries from afar, developing working relationships with colleagues, learning our jobs, and taking advantage of professional development opportunities in the virtual realm.
Sharing our experiences working as remote librarians, we hope to begin a professional dialog about what it means to be a librarian unbound by physical space. We believe the remote work paradigm offers a more equitable and inclusive model of employment. In addition, it is an opportunity for libraries to rethink strategies for recruitment and retention, to embrace the flexibility and adaptability of remote work, and to reimagine the entity known as “library” as a place that is open and accessible to the librarians who work there.
Supporting OER Sustainability by Educating Faculty on Creative Commons Licensing
By Sarah Romeo (Hudson Valley Community College)
Hudson Valley Community College successfully converted over 100 course sections to OER over the last several years, saving students over $250,000 in textbook costs in Fall 2020 alone. This lightning talk will discuss the library’s decision to broaden our efforts and increase the accessibility and sustainability of the OER program by drawing on the campus’s Open Access Policy, which permits and encourages faculty to openly license their teaching materials. HVCC librarians have begun to provide professional development in Creative Commons licensing to encourage faculty to not only participate more actively in campus OER efforts, but also to embrace the transition toward open pedagogical models.
Controlled Digital Lending & Course Reserves
By John Raymond (Siena College) and Diana Hurlburt (Siena College)
In response to the implications of COVID-19 on library access services and collections, the Siena College Library utilized Controlled Digital Lending guidelines, tools, and technologies to provide faculty and students with considerably uninterrupted access to course reserves. The end result for patrons was a transformation of traditional library reserves to a safer digital environment, from the point of item discovery and request, to the check-in process. This digital expansion provided not only increased safety for our community and a continuation of services, but also served as an opportunity to educate patrons on copyright, ebooks, and digital alternatives.
Poster Sessions:
Content Analysis: A Research Method You Can Count On (Or Not)
By Angela Hackstadt (University at Albany)
Content analysis is broadly defined as “a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use” (Krippendorff, 2004). Where does a researcher get the text? What does a researcher do with the text? What even counts as text?! Content analysis is more than summarizing what you’ve read, seen, or heard. It’s a rigorous research methodology that can be used to call attention to an issue or set the stage for further study. It requires careful planning, documentation, and inquiry, yet it manages to be flexible. This poster will explain the basics of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, how these methods differ from other qualitative methods, and provide some examples of each in library literature.
Who Writes Traditional Textbooks? Who Writes OERs? An examination.
By Malina Thiede (SUNY Plattsburgh)
This presentation will discuss a collection of data about OER textbook authors and traditional textbook authors with a focus on the demographic diversity of authors in both categories. Data was collected about authors’ sex, institution type (public or private and Carnegie Classification), apparent race or ethnicity, and rank. The data will be compared to the professorate in general and to populations of students who use the textbooks.
From Adoption to Creation, Expanding an Established OER Program
By Christina Hilburger (SUNY Fredonia), Dawn Eckenrode (SUNY Fredonia), and Katelynn Telford (SUNY Fredonia)
In this session, members of Fredonia’s OER Services Team will discuss a multi-faceted approach to increasing OER adoption on our campus. An overview of what has proven to be a successful combination of campus partnerships, outreach, support, development opportunities, and faculty incentives, will be shared. Successful library services include individual faculty appointments to assist with locating OER materials and navigating copyright; as well as a collaborative, informal weekly learning events called OER Discovery Labs. Discovery Labs provide a unique venue where faculty can learn from other faculty, while receiving library and instructional design support.
Since Fall 2018, the campus has documented just under $675,000 in textbook savings to students across 301 unique sections of 65 courses, taught by 84 faculty members. Anecdotes from students and faculty will be shared.
Presenters will also talk through challenges faced and the expansion of the program with revised faculty incentives, course design supports, and the development of a new open-focused site to encourage the use and creation of OER materials, and a better understanding of open access and open pedagogical practices across campus.
Building Synergy between the Institutional Repository and Scholarly Communication
By Emily Kilcer (University at Albany), Lauren Puzier (University at Albany), and Carol Anne Germain (University at Albany)
Institutional repositories remain a crucial tool for promoting, displaying, and encouraging open access to scholarly research. Institutional repository webpages can help deliver pertinent information about scholarly communication to visitors and authors. Scholarly communication aims to promote a more open, equitable, and sustainable scholarly ecosystem. Building a coherent synergy between scholarly communication services and open distribution through an institution’s repository benefits the user community by facilitating an efficient and effective portal. Designing the institutional repository’s homepage with a clear connection to the scholarly communication presence offers a deeper investment in scholarly communication for its visitors. This study investigates the number of libraries that utilize their institutional repository to connect with the institution’s scholarly communication division and vice versa. We reviewed 145 research libraries websites to see to determine the connection between institutional repositories and scholarly communication services. The poster outlines our findings and best practices for furthering the scholarly communication conversation.