NLA College & University Section Meetings: Spring 2023

Keynote: Constructive Conflict, Resolution and Reconciliation
Steve Pointon (Nebraska Wesleyan University)

Session Aims:

• To explore and develop our understanding of conflict;

• To consider possible causes and progression of conflict within our unique context;

• To explore principles underpinning good practice in developing appropriate responses to conflict.

Born, raised, and educated in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Steve has been actively involved with Politics and Peacemaking his entire life. Since graduating in Law with Politics from the University of Ulster in 2005; Steve worked for the Northern Ireland Assembly as a researcher and Public Relations Officer for elected Government officials.

Steve then began work for Youth Link, a cross denominational youth work body established to promote biblical principles of reconciliation and good practice. Through his role as a Community Relations Officer Steve was primarily involved in trying to empower young people within the democratic process within Northern Ireland and good relations work with young people including conflict transformation and cross-border initiatives. He has spent significant time in both Northern Ireland and Serbia delivering peace, conflict and reconciliation workshops.

Steve has been employed by Nebraska Wesleyan since 2018 where he serves as the assistant Head Coach and Recruitment Coordinator for Mens Soccer. He is also an adjunct at Nebraska Wesleyan University teaching a Freshman class focused on Conflict Theory and Northern Ireland as well as a Sports Studies: Soccer class.

In addition to this he is also Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Lincoln Nebraska.

As a Pastor, Facilitator, Coach and Teacher, Steve fosters a collegial leadership style; empowering everyone to participate and share ideas, encourages strengths and talents, while leading by example, accepting responsibility, and working together as a team.

Steve is also an Internationally qualified soccer coach and uses soccer as a tool to teach and equip young people within the Lincoln Community.

​Steve is married to the Rev. Dr. Melodie Jones Pointon (Senior Pastor of Eastridge Presbyterian Church, Lincoln) and together they have two elementary age children, Phoebe & Eli.

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Breakout Session 1A: Scaffolding information literacy throughout a Liberal Arts Core Curriculum
Jayne Germer & Cali Biaggi (Doane University)

Doane University’s core curriculum for undergraduate students includes a sequence of three liberal arts seminars, called LARs. An ongoing challenge for librarians at Doane has been that information literacy instruction is presented as a required component of only the first year seminar, LAR101. Therefore, a common assumption among faculty is that students learn to “do research” in LAR101 and don’t need additional instruction throughout their discipline. In practice, some LAR101 instructors either forget or choose not to invite librarians to their courses, so students' exposure to the library is inconsistent during their first semester and dependent on individual faculty members choosing to invite librarians to other courses after that. Librarians also know that information literacy is not something that can be taught to freshmen in a single 50-minute one-shot. Starting in the spring of 2023, we collaborated with the newly-appointed LAR faculty coordinator to create a scaffolded approach to information literacy to present to all LAR instructors through the three course levels. We tied stated learning outcomes for LAR to the ACRL Framework, and will host a workshop in late April for LAR faculty to introduce the new approach. In this session, we will discuss our process for developing the scaffold, results from the workshop, and our initial plans to implement these changes starting in fall 2023.

• DRAFT Information Literacy Outcomes Scaffold
• DRAFT Information Literacy Rubric

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Breakout Session 1B: From Conferences to Conventions: Taking Copyright Education to New Venues
Craig Finlay & Isabel Soto-Luna (University of Nebraska - Omaha)

The world of academic library presentations can be very insular. Seeking to expand the reach of our programming, we have started presenting at pop culture conventions instead of only at academic and library conferences. This presentation describes work in taking a copyright, Creative Commons and Fair Use workshop for faculty adapting it for audiences at several pop culture conventions, including Nebraskon in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Planet Comicon in Kansas City, Missouri, and C2E2 in Chicago.  What he have found in these presentations is an enthusiastic population of creators actively seeking out copyright education, and who have made these presentations better attended than the presentations we give within the familiar confines of library workshops and academic conferences.

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Lightning Rounds

Responding to the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy
David Arredondo (University of Nebraska at Kearney) and Lisa Chinn (University of Nebraska Medical Center)

The University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries (UNCL) Research Data Services (RDS) group was formed in the fall of 2021 to coordinate, support, and promote research data services throughout the NU system. On January 25, 2023, the NIH’s Data Management and Sharing (DMS) policy went into effect, requiring researchers to create and follow a DMS plan for all NIH grants. Many researchers were confused by the policy and unsure of how to create a DMS plan or identify and evaluate data repositories for depositing their data.

This talk will share the experience of RDS member’s responses to the policy and requests from campus researchers for guidance, including helpful resources you can refer to if you are asked for research data support. 

The information and resources shared are of interest to academic librarians regardless of their experience in providing research data services. Other grant funding institutions are expected to adopt similar DMS policies to the NIH, impacting more researchers in a variety of disciplines. We hope by sharing this experience we can encourage more discussion and collaboration around research data services amongst libraries in the state.

Online Reference SOS: Using Niche Academy to Address Outreach Challenges
Hannah Wilkes (College of Saint Mary)

CSM is a small, private institution that had few developed resources for online library reference and instruction. We were paying database fees for LibGuides but no content had been created or shared with the campus community. It would need to be developed from scratch, which would be difficult with a small staff. Exploring options, CSM Library chose Niche Academy which addressed both cost effectiveness and the ability to offer immediate resources. The platform offers shared and editable content, which the creator can offer for free or for purchase. However, it also allows for building and customizing multimedia tutorials or resource guides, which has created new opportunities for outreach and collaboration with faculty, while also supporting student learning needs. 

The Reference and Instruction Librarian has been able to create basic search tutorials that allow for valuable class session time to be used on more in-depth information literacy and research topics. The library has also created some new connections with both faculty and student support staff to create specific content, including resource guides, citation tools, and writing support.

Ongoing challenges include continuing to increase visibility for students and make instructors aware that this resource can be adapted to online classroom needs.

A Balancing Act in the Archives: Increasing Access to the Great Plains Black History Museum Collections
Lori Schwartz & Wendy Guerra (University of Nebraska at Omaha)

Interested in library/community partnerships? This lighting round is for you! The Hagel and Technical Services Archivist and the Digital Initiatives Archivist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections are in the process of conducting research on partnerships between archival repositories and local community entities. UNO has an ongoing partnership with the Great Plains Black History Museum (GPBHM), which is a rich exhibit-based resource for Black history in the Omaha community. The latest collaboration has involved the temporary transfer of a portion of their archival collections to UNO for arrangement, description, and select digitization. Though this kind of partnership has potential pitfalls related to ethics, access, communication, and resource prioritization, UNO archivists are up for the challenge and hopeful about seeing this project completed. One of UNO’s strategic priorities is community engagement, and we are fortunate to have the support of our library leadership. We continue to support increased access to the GPBHM archival collection by pursuing grants that will assist with conservation, further processing, and ongoing digitization. We will provide an overview of our research so far surrounding community partners, the ethics of partnerships that include relocating and hosting (but not owning) collections, complications with balancing resources, and handling the unknown.

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Breakout Session 2A: Engagement of People of Color and the oppressed in Library systems.
A’Jamal Byndon (Movement in Omaha for Racial Equity)

We will discuss ways libraries can engage People of Color in utilizing libraries to transform communities for social justice activities. They are digitally divided communities, and many are left behind because of the lack of information and knowledge that can help in many communities’ endeavors. This session will offer such examples that are occurring at progressive libraries.

Libraries are facing critical times with politicizing information and facts on historical issues. If we are to make and transform libraries, they should at least reflect the demographics of communities, society, and those most in need of services. Educational systems are natural partners, and the services' demographic should engage those community members through information technology and electronic broadband communications for families and communities without such means. Public libraries must engage the public and ensure boards, committees, and advisory groups have skin in the end game and are not apologists for censorship for the entire community. Systems must not weaponize information that keeps us divided regarding being a RED or Blue paradigm when there are more colors in our rainbow coalitions.

This session will talk about the following:

1. The progressive library system(s).

2. What to avoid in gathering community engagement

3. Steps for bringing best practices to move beyond books and periodicals.

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Breakout Session 2B: Information Literacy and the Unreliable Narrator: Understanding “Fake News”
Rachel Hammer (University of Nebraska at Kearney)

To understand bias, misinformation, and disinformation in sources like news articles, librarians can instruct students to read a short story together with a selection of newspaper articles through the lens of a concept used in literature studies: the “unreliable narrator.” By analyzing the rhetorical concepts of logos, ethos, and pathos, along with the rhetorical situation, students can (with guidance from a librarian) analyze a short story to identify hallmarks of the unreliable narrator. I focus on four such characteristics: repetition of the same viewpoint, appeals to emotion, odd distribution of details, and control of the narrative through using quotations. These characteristics also appear in misinformation, disinformation, and biased information encountered by students daily.

Edgar Allan Poe’s (1843) short story “The Tell-Tale Heart” presents a widely accepted example of an unreliable narrator. Analyzing this story gives students a basis for understanding an unreliable narrator, laying the groundwork for analysis of news articles. During a library instruction session, reading Poe’s text alongside three news articles—one from a centralized news source, one from a left-leaning source, and one from a right-leaning source—provides students the opportunity to search for aspects of Poe’s writing in news texts to discern in a new way whether the source is trustworthy.

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Breakout Session 3A: Evolution of an Interlibrary Loan Purchase on Demand program at University of Nebraska—Lincoln Libraries
Amy Heberling, Michael Moeglin, & Emily Gewecke (University of Nebraska at Lincoln)

The University of Nebraska—Lincoln Libraries’ Interlibrary Loan Purchase on Demand program will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester.  In this presentation, we will share our Purchase on Demand Program process and our workflow.  We will also discuss how the program has changed over the years, including the addition of E-Book purchasing. We will also consider how the Purchase on Demand program can continue to develop to meet users’ needs and the Libraries’ mission.

• ILL Purchasing Project Criteria Handout

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Breakout Session 3B: More Than Just Books: Meaningful Vocational Training for Student Assistants
Billie Cotterman & Elizabeth Schauer (Nebraska Wesleyan University)

One of several plans to come out of Nebraska Wesleyan University’s strategic planning is the Student Success Initiative.  This Student Success Initiative includes the creation of “Peer Academic Advocates” who can answer a variety of questions about student services and help direct students to those services.  We recognized that our student workers already did this work, albeit not in a formalized way, and so we set out to train our students more intentionally to be these peer academic advocates.

In addition to the training above, we also wanted to intentionally incorporate more high impact practice characteristics: time and effort; faculty and peer interaction; diversity; formal and informal feedback; integration, synthesis, and application; connection (Kuh 2008).  After investigating what other universities were doing, we came up with a plan that involved more hands-on training, splitting the students into teams, and added opportunities for students to reflect on their work.  In this presentation, we will talk about what the research showed, what worked and what didn’t work, what our students had to say, and what we will change for next year.