C&RL Spotlight

Wendi Kaspar

Wendi Kaspar is C&RL editor and policy sciences librarian at the Texas A&M University Policy Sciences and Economics Library, email: warant@library.tamu.edu

One of the primary roles of an editor is to support research and writing. This can be an explicit activity in the form of coordinating the journal, managing the review process, and editing the articles and issues. It can also be a more informal effort that focuses on development and intentionally engaging readers and authors about the writing or research processes. The editorials are a useful venue for such an endeavor. C&RL readers will find that many of the past editorials, those written by me or by guests, seek to engage in topics that will make the research, writing, and editorial processes more transparent as well as providing useful perspectives for authors and researchers. The guest editorial for July follows this trend. “Collaborative Authorship as Peer Mentorship” by Courtney Jacobs, Marcia McIntosh, and Kevin M. O’Sullivan describes the lessons learned in their collaboration and addresses effective practice in projects that may be operational or organizational in nature and in research efforts that may ultimately result in shared publication.

Much of the slate in the July issue models the profession’s core values, with three articles on information literacy and two on topics related to scholarly publishing. Each of these articles contributes to scholarship and practice in a practical and innovative fashion.

“Testing Future Teachers: A Quantitative Exploration of Factors Impacting the Information Literacy of Teacher Education Students” by Samantha Godbey. Using the iSkills assessment, Godbey examines the proficiency of teacher education students, that is, those who will go on to teach K–12 students and provide their foundation for learning and engagement with information. It also “aims to determine student demographic and academic characteristics that may predict success on this assessment.”

“They Found it—Now Do They Bother? An Analysis of First-Year Synthesis” by Michael Carlozzi. This study examines the alignment of student use of sources and the depth of integration into their written work going beyond just the citation of sources. Carlozzi looked at two groups for this study: students who had one-shot library sessions and students who had multiple library contact throughout the semester of their writing class, for purposes of assessing the effectiveness of instructional mode with potentially surprising results. The findings addressed students’ treatment and incorporation into their writing assignments of both class readings and sources discovered outside class, leading to recommendations for librarians collaborating with programs and working with students in introductory courses, such as writing.

“Shaping the Future of Academic Libraries: Authentic Learning for the Next Generation” by Jurgen Schulte, Belinda Tiffen, Jackie Edwards, Scott Abbott, and Edward Luca. Schulte et al present a robust case study that examines new roles for librarians, integrating emerging library priorities, scholarly communication, and information literacy elements within an academic science curriculum. The findings were encouraging:

• “Students realized the value of the nondisciplinary graduate attributes, commenting that it made ‘the subject more applicable to future careers.’”
• “They identified the value of learning to work in professionally organized teams.”
• “Students also gained more insight into aspects of professional work they were not aware of previously: ‘I wasn’t actually aware that scientific papers were reviewed in this way before publishing.’”
• “Students were also able to identify the transferability of the skills.”

These insights were imparted through the application of an open access journal, published by the students, as a learning environment.

“Trust Versus Perceived Quality in Scholarly Publishing: A Personality-Attitude-Intention Approach” by Lars Moksness and Svein Ottar Olsen. Moksness and Olsen offer the results of survey of university researchers and the determinants of publishing in open access (OA) venue or in a more traditional venue. They specifically examined the role of trust and perceived quality related to intention to publish OA. The study goes on to explore how personality traits, such agreeableness and conscientiousness, may influence these perceptions, offering a model that describes the correlations.

“Copyright Renewal of U.S. Books Published in 1932: Re-Analyzing Ringer’s Study to Determine a More Accurate Renewal Rate” by Jamie Carlstone, John Wilkin, Ayla Stein, and Michael Norman. Carlstone et al reanalyze a landmark study of copyright renewals, based on Ringer’s 1961 paper, which looked a broad category of materials that included books. The current study’s focus is on books specifically and the results indicate a significant increase over Ringer’s findings. This study offers several insights into how to examine copyright renewals, as well as recommendations for the profession.

The remaining articles in the July issue look at student perceptions of and interactions with the library, but they look at unique populations:

“Autism and the Academic Library: A Study of Online Communication” by Amelia Anderson. Anderson’s article examines the experiences of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in academic libraries, using a social model of disability studies. It is a content analysis of library-related posts on a website dedicated to ASD, hosting blogs and forums to promote community building and the exchange of information. Anderson asks some compelling questions:

• “How do members of this population describe the library’s physical environment?”
• “How do members of this population describe their interactions with library resources?”
• “How do members of this population describe their social and communication experiences at the library and with librarians?”

The analysis of comments and perceptions of the library experience frames them within several relevant categories that may provide some surprising insights: library as place, resources as distraction, and discussion of interaction or avoidance thereof. The article closes with advice for librarians about how to serve patrons with ASD more effectively and a call for more training for academic librarian as the student population grows.

“Information Code-Switching: A Study of Language Preferences in Academic Libraries” by Frans Abarillo. Albarillo looks at code-switching, defined as the “alternation of languages by multilinguals” and its implications for how students engage with academic libraries. He particularly focuses on information tasks performed by foreign-born students, with data gathered from focus groups followed by survey response. The study offers insight into how their experience with multiple languages influences more than just their preferred language for searching, which may vary based on the situation, but it also affects the ways in which they frame their information needs and what and how they choose to search. “The findings suggest that it is likely that students will code-switch in academic reading contexts and when reading news. For example, the data from the Colombian undergraduate student tell us that her code-switching is in very specific domains, like leisurely reading and religious reading, and that she has difficulty reading academic Spanish. This information is important to know for building collections and for supporting students who may want to take their academic experiences to their home country for an internship, for a job, or for pursuing graduate work.”

These last two articles explore a growing awareness within the profession about emerging groups of students with distinctive information needs, perspectives, and behaviors. This attention is consistent with the ongoing discussions within committees of ACRL concerning diversity and inclusion, particularly how to be more representative of our membership and those we serve. I feel strongly that inclusion and broad representation are critical, not just for the purposes of a diverse and robust journal, but also to model a just and equitable environment. Previous editorials have explored some of these issues, but it seems like there is more we can do.

Certainly, with the submissions that are coming into the journal, there are enough very compelling topics and rigorously framed research studies that there will likely be at least one each issue. I have looked at the possibility of highlighting these topics through a special or topical issue, particularly as there have been several submissions that have explored topics on underserved populations and questions of diversity and equity. Upon reflection, I abandoned the idea of a special issue—not because there wasn’t enough material or because I don’t think that such topics should have attention. Rather, I believe that, instead of a special issue, there should be representation of topics on diversity, equity, traditionally marginalized populations, and social justice in almost every issue. These valuable topics should not be relegated to only a single issue: they will be regularly incorporated into issues as the articles are submitted, reviewed, and accepted.