College & Research Libraries is a scholarly research journal published by the Association of College & Research Libraries.

Current Issue: May 2023

Cover: College & Research Libraries volume 84, number 3, May 2023

Is C&RL Ready for a Data Sharing Policy?

Minglu Wang, Adrian K. Ho, Kristen Totleben

In the summer of 2020, C&RL received a request from the ACRL Board of Directors to establish a registered report submission track as a major step to ensure C&RL’s high standards of rigorous methods. The request letter was signed by a group of ACRL members, led by Amy Riegelman, who later published an editorial on this topic (Amy Riegelman, 2021), calling C&RL to be more proactive in supporting open research practices. In order to increase C&RL’s rigor in supporting and implementing open research practices ...

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Assessing Diversity in Special Collections and Archives

Sarah R. Jones, Emily Lapworth, Tammi Kim

In 2020, UNLV Special Collections and Archives conducted an internal audit of collections, strategic plans, and programming in order to assess how well it is meeting strategic goals of being more inclusive and increasing diversity and representation. In a data-driven institution, how can assessment be used to advocate for resources focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion? In conducting this analysis, UNLV hoped to answer the following query: how is progress measured if the goal is to preserve stories outside the traditional narrative (white, male, cisgender, heteronormative, etc.)? ...

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OA and the Academy: Evaluating an OA Fund with Authors’ Input

Gail McMillan, Leslie O’Brien, Edward F. Lener

The University Libraries at Virginia Tech established an Open Access Subvention Fund (OASF) in August 2012. Although it began as a two-year pilot project, the Fund has continued to the present. Anyone at Virginia Tech is eligible to apply for funding to offset the cost of an article processing charge to publish in an open access journal. To learn more about user perceptions of the OASF and open access in general, we surveyed everyone who had requested support. The survey, conducted during the fall of 2019, provided a means to gauge the needs of our users, seek feedback on the request and award process, and gather input on the fund guidelines. ...

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Complex and Varied: Factors Related to the Research Productivity of Academic Librarians in the United States

Kristin Hoffmann, Selinda Adelle Berg, Kristine R. Brancolini, Marie R. Kennedy

Academic librarians face multiple barriers in conducting the research that is expected in their work, yet they still manage to successfully complete it. This study aimed to identify the factors that contribute to their success. Through an online survey sent via email to a random sample of academic librarians in the United States, we gathered and analyzed quantitative data about education and experience, demographics, success factor statements, and research productivity to determine which factors are related to increased research output. We found that three categories of factors—Individual Attributes, Peers and Community, and Institutional Structures and Supports—contribute positively to overall research output. ...

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Toward a Framework for Information Creativity

Mark Dahlquist

Recognizing the importance of information literacy in defining the primary focus of library instruction, this paper suggests the potential utility of a complementary principle of information creativity. Employers and educators now increasingly stress creativity’s value and teachability; this paper turns to the work of John Dewey to suggest that the traditional distinction between creativity and literacy education is not only unavoidable but also potentially productive. This paper offers some initial suggestions as to what a framework for information creativity might entail, and proposes that an emphasis on information creativity ...

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We the Dead: Preserving Data at the End of the World

Reviewed by Jeffrey Garrett

Librarians tend to look askance at commentators on their work and profession from outside the guild. Henry Petroski, an engineer, wrote Book on the Bookshelf (1999), looking at the practical construction principles of bookshelves through history, and was never taken seriously by librarians—perhaps also in light of his (joking?) recommendations to arrange books on bookshelves by the author’s first name, or by the first letter of the second-to-last word of the title. ...

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