In this presentation, I investigate claims that publishers add little value to scholarly communication by asking about those parts of publishing overlooked when the focus is exclusively on content. Evaluating a study by Martin Klein, Peter Broadwell, Sharon Farb, and Todd Grappone, I not only point to problems with its assumptions about value,…[Read more]

As start-up companies reimagine components of the scholarly communication system, are observers too quick to assimilate the new into the known? This presentation discusses the case of the social-network and document-sharing platform Academia.edu and the debates it has stirred. Academia.edu has been subsumed into discussions about scholarly…[Read more]

Underground ‘extreme’ styles of heavy metal are marked apart by other sub-genres of metal by their adoption of a punk rock ethos and overt rejection of commercialism. In metal culture being ‘true’ is a by-word for a perceived authenticity of the artist(s) in their commitment to the culture and integrity as composers/performers. Authenticity is a…[Read more]

The music of Soundgarden represents a unique blend of heavy metal power and and art-rock sensitivity, this is clearly displayed in the song ‘Outshined’. The unorthodox harmony, use of odd time time signatures and sectional variation seem to blur genre boundaries within rock music and also lend the music a sense of emotional instability that runs…[Read more]

Guitar solos were a defining foundational aspects in the early formative years of what would become known as heavy metal music. Though Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath has been largely credited as the most influential guitarist on the wider genre, this essay argues that it is the style of Ritchie Blackmore that has been of greater importance and…[Read more]

Organizational realignment between libraries and campus IT is challenging. It is also an opportunity to rethink library services. This presentation highlights the benefits of expanding a service portfolio and strategies to shift, sharpen, and share staff skills for success in providing enhanced electronic resources and discovery systems support.

The adoption of institutional diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs in recent decades highlights an ongoing need for structural and cultural change within higher education institutions. It also raises questions around gender, race and disability politics, the decolonisation of diversity and neoliberal management of higher…[Read more]

In light of the Fan Studies Network’s statement regarding fan studies being overrun with whiteness, we are in a unique position to engage in scholarship that challenges the overwhelmingly white and Global North–centric structures that define how we study fan cultures. Multidisciplinarity, which may be understood as disciplines laid side by side, s…[Read more]

Over the course of the last year the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) and the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park (Roshan Institute-UMD) have begun collaborating with the Raja of Mahmudabad family on the preservation of their important manuscript collection. The project will help protect the…[Read more]

The goal of this paper is twofold: first to define “research data” in a humanities context through a discussion of the ways in which humanities researchers create and aggregate image collections, and second to address the processes by which academic libraries and information professionals can play an active role in supporting the treatment and per…[Read more]

Purpose: – The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of public library activities on the health and wellbeing of library users. Concentrating on five library activities; knit and knit, rhyme time, learn my way, reading group and adult craft and calming colouring. It seeks to examine the implementation of the joint action path…[Read more]

Het streven naar Open Access (OA), de vrije toegang tot wetenschappelijke publicaties, heeft de laatste tijd een nieuw elan gekregen door een aantal initiatieven van overheden en onderzoeksfinanciers. Toch kan men zich de vraag stellen of het niet om oude wijn in nieuwe zakken gaat. Er is al twee decennia sprake van OA – waarom zou er deze keer e…[Read more]

The world is ablaze with colour, and for artists and designers the spectrum is both a vital tool and highly informational. Whether found in the circadian rhythms of nature, contemporary works of art or art & design libraries, colour’s kaleidoscopic lens allows us to observe, experience, and communicate the tessellation of information present in o…[Read more]

Purpose: investigate the information behaviour of hobbyist book collectors as serious leisure participants and how it relates to information behaviour models and theories.
Objectives: study how hobbyist book collectors seek and use information, what their sources are, why they seek information in these ways, what difficulties they encounter, how…[Read more]

Description of the exhibition Japan’s Book Donation to the University of Louvain. Japanese Cultural Identity and Modernity in the 1920s.

The American Religious Sounds Project, a joint effort from Michigan State University and Ohio State University, has been gathering sound recordings of American religious life since 2014. The project is undertaking a dual process of expanding to other institutions and ingesting the collection into the Vincent Voice Library at MSU.
With thousands…[Read more]

The user experience movement is gaining momentum in libraries, but its adoption and adaptation into an organizational culture may present unexpected challenges. In June 2014, the Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries created a User Experience unit and in a short time, established a solid and reputable team of practitioners. This success,…[Read more]