I'm a UNT LISSA Officer

I joined the UNT student organization Library & Information Science Student Association (LISSA) as the Director of Membership & Communication. I was very active in the Canvas "classroom" last semester and loved that they updated students about conferences, organizations, and the virtual happy hours they hosted with LIS professionals. 

Though the fall semester hasn't officially started, we had our first meeting a few weeks ago. It was nice to get to "meet" everyone via Zoom and see what goals the organization has for the year ahead. 

I absolutely love digital organization so I suggested we move platforms from Google to Airtable. I was having such issues logging into the LISSA Gmail account. With Airtable we have everything we need in one place and I don't have to worry about signing into and out of various accounts. I probably sound like a spokesperson for the service but Airtable is one of the best services I've found...probably ever. It's so customizable. I've used it for so many different processes for work, school, and home. 

So we're in the process of moving everything over. I've already started a Membership Directory that will be updated once the fall semester starts. I also created a survey so that members and potential members can submit their degree information, areas of interest, and comments. With the survey, we'll be able to see what kind of topics students are interested in and we'll be able to connect students with other members of the same degree. 

Hopefully my work on the Airtable will make processes go smoother in the semesters to come. 

ALA Virtual 2020

With the uptick in COVID cases, the ALA annual meeting was virtual this year. This ended up working well for me since I wouldn't have been able to attend the in-person event. However, I was able to watch a lot of the webinars and felt like it was still a well-done event. 

My favorite presentation was Using “SIFT” to Teach Digital Literacy in a Democratic Society. It was a really well-done and very interesting presentation. Information literacy is something that I am very passionate about and I think that this new method is superior to the CRAPP method so often taught. The basic premise is teaching users how to use the internet to check the internet. So for instance, doing a reverse image search, checking well-known fact-checking sites like Snopes, and checking Google News. These are all really easy things that can be done to help users (though in the presentation they specifically talk about students) realize that not everything on the internet is reliable. 

35th Annual NASIG Conference

I was so appreciative that NASIG was able, with its sponsors, to offer a free virtual conference for students. I would not have been able to attend the conference otherwise and therefore wouldn't have been able to see first-hand what NASIG is all about. Prior to the conference, I wasn't familiar with NASIG but the conference presentations really gave a feel for what issues and subjects NASIG focuses on. 

As I watched the webinars, I took some notes which I've pasted below.  

Mapping Domain Knowledge for Leading and Managing Change

"Just because you said you're a leader, doesn't mean that you were giving the leadership that was needed." 

This quote really resonated with me. It's so true. I've worked for, or worked with, people who see themselves as leaders but who were in fact...not. Calling yourself a leader does not automatically make you a good one, a nice one, an efficient one. Leading is hard and many people are not born leaders. The information provided in this presentation was very helpful. 

Practical Approaches to Linked Data

This is interesting. I don't even know what linked data is specifically but it is definitely something that I want to look into further. Wikidata? Wikimedia? Further study is needed on this. 

Access to Supplemental Journal Article Materials 

This is something that I've never really thought of before. I never really needed SJAMs when working in undergrad and never realized how difficult they might be to access. If researchers build off of other research(ers), then why isn't there a universal way to send/receive all the pertinent information? 

COUNTER 5: Lessons Learned and New Insights Achieved 

Interning at SwRI was the first time I'd ever heard of COUNTER. I think the concept is really interesting for insights into what kind of content patrons are using. I like that they are all standardized and that they can be downloaded and pulled without much hassle across various platforms. 

Knowledge Bases: The Heart of Resource Management 

A very thorough and easy-to-understand explanation of what a knowledge base is and how important they are to the library. I haven't come across the term in school yet but will now have a sense of what the term means if I ever do. 

Transforming Library Collections and Support Student Learning with Collection Mapping

I loved this presentation. This is something that I would absolutely love to do. The fact that you have to set these goals but you're also utilizing data from many different areas to figure out what your goals should be is amazing. As someone currently going through graduate school and as I am unsure of what type of position I want in the future, this presentation brought me joy. I love that it's interdepartmental and that faculty were consulted with regards to weeding and purchasing. I love that whole degree plans and single elective classes were taken into consideration for what should be kept, weeded, added to. 

News Literacy & Social Emotional Learning

I read this article, News Literacy Must Include Social Emotional Learning by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins in the School Library Journal that turned on a lightbulb for me in relation to information literacy. 

The article discusses the importance of talking about social-emotional learning (SEL) in the context of news literacy. Both SEL and information literacy are important topics, but when you couple them together it seems to help drive home the important fact that many "news" articles aren't actually correct or informative. What most people usually react to isn't the information in the article or post - what they tend to react to is the way the article makes them feel. Diving into the reasons so many people reflexively click and share inaccurate information is an important component to becoming information literate. Understanding that words can evoke emotions can help people, old and young, master information literacy.

The Backfire Bias

Having taken psychology courses in undergrad, I'm aware of biases and how we all fall prey to them. In an on-demand training I took called Overcoming Bias there was a section devoted to the backfire bias. The backfire bias is when people who already hold a strong belief, double down in their belief even when shown evidence to the contrary. Because I am very passionate about information literacy, I was interested in hearing ways to help overcome this bias. Dr. Michael Shermer, author and narrator of the training, gave six steps that may help when talking to people about difficult subjects. 

1. Keep emotions out of it. 
2. Discuss - don't attack. 
3. Listen carefully so that you can tell their belief back to them. 
4. Show respect. 
5. Acknowledge that you understand why someone might believe that. 
6. Try to show that changing facts does not mean changing their entire view of something else. 

Ethics Literacy

Much like information literacy, information professionals should also be ethically literate as well. Information professionals may deal with many different types of ethical scenarios daily and therefore having good background knowledge, and a strong understanding of ethics is important. The American Library Association (ALA) has deemed ethics as an important component in library science since the 1930s. The ALA Code of Ethics has informed many professionals about ethics but it may not be enough. Its accreditation does not mandate that coursework include any sort of ethics training nor does it standardize ethics curriculum (Buchanan, 2004, p. 51). Though it’s important for the ALA to continue to demonstrate the importance of ethics in the workforce, it doesn’t seem to be truly effective in practical applications.

Luo (2016, p. 197) found that when dealing with an ethically ambiguous situation, many professionals reached out to others in their field to seek advice on how to handle the situation. This may be an issue because organizational ethics may differ from company to company and, in some instances, from the ALA Code of Ethics as a whole (Luo, 2016, p.197). Because of this, it is necessary that organizations have ethics policies in place so that staff may defer to them when ethical situations arise. However, this may be easier said than done since situations that involve ethics do not have clear-cut outcomes. It is in the best interest of organizations and especially those who work in reference services to partake in an ethics course or attend ethics workshops where practical applications may be discussed.

References

Buchanan, E. (2004). Ethics in library and information science. What are we teaching? Journal of Information Ethics, 13(1), 51-60. doi:10.3172/JIE.13.1.51

Luo, L. (2016). Ethical issues in reference: An in-depth view from the librarians’ perspective. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 55(3), 189-198.

New Job, Who Dis?

 

I started a new job on Monday. I am a full-time intern at the library at Southwest Research Institute. It's weird to start during the middle of a pandemic. My orientation was in a room that was too big for the six of us and we were all spread at least six feet apart. The orientation itself was cut short; we were told only the absolutely necessary. Still, it's been great to get into a library again. 

Big Data

Big data can be defined by the three Vs: volume, velocity, and variety (Laney, 2001). But simply put, it is data that is so large in volume, that happens so fast, and across a variety of platforms that it used to be impossible to mine all the data with (what used to be) typical software. Now that technology has advanced, big data is used in organizations around the world to tailor user experiences and to help the company see trends in regards to its users. For example, which links are being clicked on the most, which devices users use the most to visit the site, and more.

Using big data in libraries is a complicated issue. The biggest issue is that recording and mining data from users can directly violate their right to privacy. Article VII in the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights states that all people “possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use” (2006). It is a core value that many within the library profession believe in firmly. Though there may be ways to anonymize data, breaches from companies like Target to Experian prove that data can be hacked.

However, using big data in libraries can prove to be beneficial not only to the library but to the users as well. One way libraries can use big data to help users is by providing relevant information to their searches (Li, Jiao, Zhang, & Xu, 2019, p. 25). In much the same way Netflix tailors recommendations based on your previously watched media, libraries can utilize big data to provide relevant information to patrons that they might not have been actively searching for. This feature is not only beneficial to the user but to the library as well. It can save library resources such as time and money. It also can help the users return to the library because they had a pleasant user experience.

References

Laney, D. (2001). 3D data management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety. 6(70). META Group Research Note.

Li, S., Jiao, F., Zhang, Y., & Xu, X. (2019). Problems and changes in digital libraries in the age of big data from the perspective of user services. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 45(1), 22-30.

Library Bill of Rights. (2006). American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

Issues in Digitization

What do you think are some burning and even unresolved issues in digitization in digital libraries?

There are a few important issues regarding digitization. Some of the more urgent issues concern (1) who is in charge of ensuring digital content is archived and that the archived information is (2) complete, (3) correct, and (4) usable.

One of the biggest issues in digitization as explained by Lynch (2017) is the fact that when it comes to online content, many do not know who, or which types of organizations, should be archiving and/or digitizing it. In Lynch’s talk, he focuses on born-digital news information, however, the issues extend further and yet have similar difficulties. Whether born-digital or digitizing, the work needed to archive can be expensive and hard to calculate. Each organization has different needs, different materials, different methods, and different budgets - each of these must be taken into account. The Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives created a toolkit in 2017 to help organizations pitch the need for archiving costs. The toolkit itself has 13 different components that help illustrate how complicated an issue archiving is when it comes to organizations understanding the important need for it.

In Lynch’s (2017) talk about born-digital news, he also touched on the issue of archiving data that are complete. Especially when it comes to born-digital content, the ease of inserting hyperlinks or embedding videos may mean that articles are no longer valid or giving complete information when a user visits the site. Ensuring that information is correct and complete will continue to be a challenge as websites change.

Digital content must be correct and that is a constant struggle as technology changes, as what is deemed relevant changes, and depends on budgets of organizations. Metadata plays an important role in how digital content is searched and how users interact with it. As we continue to archive digital content, it’s important that metadata is taken into effect. Chen (2001) argues “increasing quantities of metadata associated with preserved digital records” (p. 4) will be important in ensuring that content is searchable, correct, and current.

Lastly, digital content must be usable. As Neal (2015) stated, “quality equals content plus functionality” (p. 4). As new advances in technology happen, we can expect more content than ever to be accessible to more people, worldwide. However, digital content is still not fully functional for those with disabilities. Technology has helped bridge many gaps but as Epp (2006) points out when it comes to those who are visually-impaired, information accessibility still has a way to go. Scanning a book, article, or other print material and putting it online fulfills the requirement for digitization but when it comes to those who are visually-impaired, the material may still be unavailable.

References

Chen, S. S. (2001). The paradox of digital preservation. Computer, 34(3), 24-28.

Cost-Benefit Advocacy Toolkit. (2017). Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives.

Epp, M. A. (2006). Closing the 95 percent gap: Library resource sharing for people with print disabilities. Library Trends, 54(3). 411-429.

Lynch, C. (2017). Born-digital news preservation in perspectives. Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture, 46(3), 94-98. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/pdtc-2017-0012

Neal, J. S. (2015). Preserving the born-digital record: Many more questions than answers. American Libraries, June 2015, 30-33.

Ethical Dilemmas with Modern Technology

In today's world, the ethical dilemmas faced by information professionals in the workplace are numerous. The evolution of modern technology has changed the way in which people interact with information, interact with each other and their environment. Describe two ethical scenarios concerning the designing or implementation of digital services in libraries. Based on your descriptions, please analyze these two scenarios with a careful consideration of the Code of Ethics and provide possible solutions for these two scenarios.

Dilemma 1: People have high expectations of libraries. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 78% of respondents felt that “public libraries help them find information that is trustworthy and reliable” (Geiger, 2017, para. 2). That is great news to hear. However, what happens when library users come to use the internet and do not seek out librarians for help with information retrieval?

We live in a world of fake news. From memes to questionable posts, from deepfakes to blatant lies - the internet is full of false information masquerading as truth. The issue of fake news is a vast topic that has its own set of ethical issues. What I’d like to discuss briefly, is the ethical dilemma of using technology to alert our users to information that is questionable. Even now, Facebook is trying to combat some of the issues within its social sphere by adding disclaimers to certain posts that it deems untrue or questionable (Heijmans, 2019). If users come into the library expecting trustworthy, high-quality, reliable information, how do we ensure we are giving it to them? Especially when there is no human interaction?

The technology exists now to add a Chrome extension that purports to fight fake news. Adding a chrome extension would be simple enough but do we need to? Should we have to? The ethical implications are, like every other response on the thread, varied and multifaceted.

It is our duty to give patrons “the highest level of service” (American Library Association, 2008) which includes the best, most correct information. However, adding a plugin or extension might violate users’ privacy.  We also may be unwittingly forcing the user to censor or limit their information results by adding the disclaimer. Also, it turns out that adding disclaimers to fake news may make people “more willing to believe other stories…[e]ven if those additional untagged stories also turn out to be false” (Dizikes, 2020).

Information literacy is becoming more and more important. As librarians, workshops and classes on how to apply critical thinking skills and tools to evaluate websites should be shared to help combat fake or questionable content. But as Orick (2000) states, the internet is so quickly changing that the validity of the content might change from day-to-day.

Dilemma 2: Online learning is a convenient and popular technology that has really gained traction within the last decade. As the UNT Library Science program can attest, face-to-face is not necessary to learn a topic or to engage with peers. Many online courses use web-based software (e.g. Canvas, Blackboard) that allow users to login, interact, and work from anywhere with an internet connection. However, this software has ways to mine data from its users. It can track students’ clicks, time on page, who they’ve interacted with, files uploaded, files downloaded, and more. From a business perspective, this mined data is gold. It can help show correlations between students receiving A's and the time they spend on the software. It can help show areas that are being underutilized or not used at all that can then be eliminated from future budgets. However, as Jones and Salo (2018) explain, the software and the data that are able to be mined have ethical implications in the field of library and information science, especially when the same set of data mining standards are used in mining the library’s service.

Knowing which actions and services a patron uses can be beneficial to the university. Having that knowledge in quantifiable measures with the ability to provide correlations and statistically relevant data can help the university gain revenue and focus on areas where they may have been lacking before. However, patrons have the right to privacy. The webpages they visited, the clicks they made, and the articles they read should not be saved and put on a server waiting to be analyzed later. Especially without identifiers removed and especially not without patron’s consent. The duty to keep our patrons’ information private should be a top priority. Whether they are using a public, academic, or another type of library they should be comfortable in knowing that their information will not be sold or used for means in which they have no say.

References

American Library Association. (2008). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics

Dizikes, P. (2020, March 2). The catch to putting warning labels on fake news. MIT News. Retrieved from http://news.mit.edu/2020/warning-labels-fake-news-trustworthy-0303

Geiger. A. W. (2017, August 30). Most Americans – especially Millennials – say libraries can help them find reliable, trustworthy information. Pew Center Research Fact Tank. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/30/most-americans-especially-millennials-say-libraries-can-help-them-find-reliable-trustworthy-information/

Heijmans, P. (2019, November 30). Facebook adds disclaimer to post that Singapore deems false. Bloomberg.Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-29/singapore-orders-facebook-to-correct-blog-s-false-statements

Jones, K., & Salo, D. (2018). Learning analytics and the academic library: Professional ethics commitments at a crossroads. College & Research Libraries, 79(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.79.3.304

Orick, J. (2000). The virtual library: Changing Roles and ethical challenges for librarians. International Information & Library Review, 32(3/4), 313-624. DOI: 10.1080/10572317.2000.10762520