News from the Field
MSU Libraries announce OER award recipients
When Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries faculty and staff developed a new strategic plan last year, they defined a vision of promoting equal access to information and spaces for all, then got right to work to advance the accessibility, equity, and inclusion. As part of a new Open Educational Resources (OER) Program, the library is awarding nine MSU faculty funding assistance for the creation and adaptation of OER course material for the 2020–21 academic year. MSU Dean of Libraries Joseph Salem said the financial awards, which total $26,500, are designed to help instructors reduce costs for students, improve access to required texts, and increase student success.
Eight faculty members and faculty member teams will each receive $4,000 to create and develop new OER for primary course material. The awards have the potential to impact 4,555 students and save students $287,475. Three projects will be implemented in the fall of 2020, and four will be implemented in spring of 2021. More information, including a list of recipients, is available at https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2020/msu-libraries-announce-awards-to-develop-open-educational-resources/.
RBMS 2020 Conference cancellation
The ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) regrets that it must cancel the RBMS 2020 Conference at Indiana University-Bloomington because of the serious health risks posed by COVID-19. The section is truly grateful for all of the interest and support for what would have been another terrific RBMS conference and is working with conference registrants directly. RBMS will also be working on ways to potentially rearrange and refresh content in coming years and very much looks forward to the days when the RBMS community can safely gather again.
ARL, CNI, and EDUCAUSE release second installment of Landscape Report on Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and EDUCAUSE have released the second part of a report by Sarah Lippincott, “Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning,” which will be published in its entirety by late spring 2020. This installment introduces the context and scope of the report, describes the study’s methodology, and explores opportunities that cut across multiple areas of research library services.
Conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, this study is a resource for research libraries as they identify strategic opportunities to adopt and engage with emerging technologies. Lippincott’s research considers policies and practices already underway, the ways in which research library values and professional expertise inform and shape library engagement with technologies, the ways library and library worker roles are being reconceptualized, and the implications of a range of technologies on how the library fulfills its mission. Installments of the report are being published as they become available at https://doi.org/10.29242/report.emergingtech2020.landscape.
Springer Nature expands open access portfolio
Two new open access (OA) journals have been launched by Springer Nature as part of the Nature Research Communications family. The first articles in Communications Materials were published in February 2020, while the submissions portal for the journal Communications Earth & Environment opened in February 2020. These new journals join the approximately 600 fully OA journals also published by Springer Nature, including Nature Communications and Scientific Reports.
Communications Materials is a selective, broad-scope materials science journal, publishing important research in all areas of materials science, including those at the interface with biology, chemistry, and physics. Communications Earth & Environment will publish research that spans all areas of the Earth, planetary, and environmental sciences, including those at the interface with ecology, sustainability, and environmental social sciences. The submission and review processes are managed by in-house professional editors, as with all Nature Research journals. In addition, peer review processes are supported by external expert editorial board members.
California Community College Maker Initiative releases makerspace impact publication
The California Community College Makerspace initiative (CCC Maker) has published “California Community College Makerspace Impact: Implementation Strategies & Inspiring Stories of Transformation.” CCC Maker was created through a $17 million grant from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office that enabled a network of CCC Maker colleges to plan and develop unique makerspace communities.
“California Community College Makerspace Impact” highlights the experiences of college leaders who took the risk to establish crossdisciplinary hands-on community spaces with digital tools to close the skills gap. The publication is freely available online at https://cccmaker.com/about/maker-guides/.
Additional open source tools; guides including “Makerspace Startup Guide” and “Makermatic: a Scalable Approach to Team Internships”; and information on the experiences of the largest educational makerspace network in the United States are shared at the CCC Maker website.
UNESCO Archives adds sound recordings
The UNESCO Archives recently added 5,000 recordings from its heritage collections to its digitization platform. The historical sound recordings collection includes radio reports, specially produced programs, interviews, and other recordings from the late 1940s to 1980s. For example, the UNESCO World Review was launched in 1949 to present developments in the fields of UNESCO interest, to show concrete examples of international cooperation within these areas and in those of other United Nations Specialized Agencies, and to make those items alive and interesting. Recordings are presented, at this time, in their raw digitized format.
More information is available at https://digital.archives.unesco.org/en/collection/sound-recordings, and the full digital archives are available at https://digital.archives.unesco.org.
IMLS authorizes new grant flexibilities for libraries, museums
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced new grant flexibility to aid museums, libraries, and communities across the United States in response to COVID-19. The new guidelines outline how institutions with open IMLS grants may adapt their existing funds to address immediate needs and extend timelines for their work to accommodate the disruption caused by coronavirus. Examples include continuing to employ staff, modifying project activities to align with social distancing requirements, and covering basic costs necessary to resume community work once the emergency has passed.
IMLS is committed to working with grantees to provide the maximum flexibility allowed by governing authorities. For the complete guidelines, please visit the FAQ page on the IMLS website at www.imls.gov/coronavirus-covid-19-updates/information-imls-grant-applicants-and-awardees. Additional information on IMLS responses to the pandemic is available at www.imls.gov/coronavirus.
ACRL announces the publication of Library Partnerships in International Liberal Arts Education: Building Relationships Across Cultural and Institutional Lines, edited by Jeff Hiroshi Gima and Kara Malenfant, and Games and Gamification in Academic Libraries, edited by Stephanie Crowe and Eva Sclippa.
Internationalization continues to gain traction among U.S. colleges and universities as overseas branch campuses now dot the globe alongside an established and growing group of independent American-modeled institutions of higher education, some founded as early as the 19th century. As higher education and the academic library environment evolves, librarians at many of these independent institutions are identifying priorities that include not only collaborating with educational stakeholders, enhancing teaching and learning, and connecting to the institution’s mission, but also positioning themselves as active and creative partners in increasingly digital learning and scholarship. An international environment is both a challenge and an opportunity for these priorities.
Library Partnerships in International Liberal Arts Education explores these challenges and opportunities through perspectives that are inherently international and intercultural because of the authors’ own backgrounds, and in particular because of their institutional environments.
Games and Gamification in Academic Libraries explores the ways in which today’s array of games and gaming techniques can be used in academic library instruction, programming, and outreach initiatives. Games of all kinds, from breakouts and escape rooms to traditional board game collections, are featured in academic libraries in a variety of contexts, where their natural ability to foster interaction and communication is especially valuable.
Games and gamification can be used to help students engage with the thresholds of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, locate resources and identify misinformation and disinformation, and build connections with faculty and librarians in one-shots and for-credit courses.
In four sections—An Overview of Games and Gamification, Adding and Maintaining a Circulating Game Collection to your Library, Games and Gamification in Information Literacy Instruction, and Programming and Outreach through Games—this collection explores incorporating games into first-year experience programs, using games to help students engage with special collections, making games accessible, and ideas for game nights and events.
Library Partnerships in International Liberal Arts Education: Building Relationships Across Cultural and Institutional Lines and Games and Gamification in Academic Libraries are available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store, in print through Amazon.com, and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the United States or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.
Resources for College Libraries (RCL), the Choice/ACRL bibliography of essential titles for undergraduate teaching and research, invites experienced library subject selectors and faculty to serve as peer reviewers.
RCL is currently seeking referees for a variety of Arts and Humanities subjects, including American Literature, British Literature, Classical Languages and Literatures, Dance, Drama and Theater, French Language and Literature, General Language and Literature, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Italian Language and Literature, Music, Other Literatures in English, Philosophy, Religion, Russian and Eastern European Languages and Literatures, Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures, and Visual Arts.
Reviewers are tasked with assessing the subject collection comprehensively, providing recommendations for editorial improvement, and constructive feedback on how well the core title selections support the curriculum. Serving as an RCL peer reviewer can strengthen collection development skills, inform local projects, and build subject expertise. This is a one-time professional service opportunity that can be performed remotely.
To apply, submit a current CV and a brief description of your qualifications, particularly developing or evaluating core collections and/or teaching in the subject, to RCL Project Editor Anne Doherty at adoherty@ala-choice.org. Preference will be given to those who apply by June 1, 2020.
RCL is committed to pursuing equity and inclusion and seek reviewers with diverse backgrounds and new perspectives to its work.
Learn more about RCL at www.choice360.org/products/rcl.
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