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Recent Updates to Willis Library

Posted by & filed under Library Resources.

Written by Sierra Dahl

Willis Library has recently undergone some changes to make the library better equipped to serve students. These improvements include renovations to the building, modern furniture, new reservable spaces, and additional borrowable equipment and materials.  

New Reservable Spaces 

The first addition to Willis Library is study pods, reservable spaces designed for individual study or studying in pairs. These pods are soundproof, include furniture such as chairs and tables, and have electrical outlets. The pods are located on the lower, second, and fourth levels.  

These spaces are convenient for students who prefer more silence when studying. In addition to the pods, on the first floor, there are One Button Studio Spaces, three rooms designed to record video or audio. Pods and One Button Studio Spaces can be booked on the Space Reservations page and the spaces can be reserved for up to two hours each day by currently enrolled students.  

Photo of study pods located on the second floor of Willis Library
Pods located on the second floor of Willis Library Image by UNT Libraries 

New Accessibility Equipment and Materials  

There are new offerings of equipment and materials that can be checked out at the Willis Library Service Desk. This collection is called the Willis Library Services Desk Equipment Collection and can be browsed on the Willis Library Services Desk Equipment webpage (UNT Libraries, 2022c). The accessibility portion of this collection includes sensory items and other items that may be of particular interest to those with accommodation needs (UNT Libraries, 2022a). Specific items include C-Pen Readers, magnifiers, assistive listening devices, sensory items, and calculators. Items in this collection are available to any individual with an unblocked UNT Library account.  

Photo of LED page magnifier
LED Page Magnifier Image by UNT Libraries 

New Curriculum Equipment and Materials  

The curriculum portion of the Willis Library Services Desk Equipment Collection includes items that support learning and study (UNT Libraries, 2022b). Specific items in this collection include supply kits, calculators, language flashcards, an electronic translator, a desk light, and a book stand. 

Photo of Japanese Kanji flash cards
Japanese Kanji Flash Card Image by UNT Libraries

Digitization of General Course Reserves 

Course reserves are also being made accessible online to allow better availability to all students. Physical materials in general reserves, which are offered every semester, have been replaced whenever possible by online copies. This change helps to increase access to materials by no longer requiring students to come to Willis Library in person to borrow the course reserves they need. 

Space Renovations and New Furniture  

Additionally, there have been building updates such as bathroom renovations and the addition of modern furniture. This new furniture includes more individual study furniture and height-adjustable desks located on every floor. The desks can easily be converted from seated to standing desks by pressing the red lever located on each desk’s right side.  

Two photos of a height-adjustable desk in lowered and raised positions
Height-adjustable table in lowered and raised positions Image by Sierra Dahl 

Did this blog help you learn about the recent improvements to Willis Library? Let us know your comments! Please contact Ask Us if you have any questions about library services. 

References:

UNT Libraries. (2022, February 23). Accessibility Items. https://guides.library.unt.edu/c.php?g=1187058&p=8698146  

UNT Libraries. (2022, February 23). Curriculum Items. https://guides.library.unt.edu/c.php?g=1187058&p=8698166  

UNT Libraries. (2022, February 23). Overview. https://guides.library.unt.edu/c.php? 

g=1187058&p=8681983 

Libraries As Facilitators of Information Access

Posted by & filed under Library Resources.

Written By: Haley McGlynn

Libraries today provide a plethora of services to their communities and serve as a technological hub for patrons, offering a “multi-media experience,” with collections that include digital materials and physical technologies (Manness, 2006). With the prevalence of technology in the library, the term “Library 2.0” has been coined to encapsulate the social and intrapersonal nature of libraries today. The term comes from “Web 2.0”, which defines the modern web as a social facilitator with user-created content. 

According to Manness (2006), Library 2.0 has four essential elements: libraries are user-centered, provide a “multi-media experience,” are “socially rich,” and are “communally innovative”. The “user-centered” nature of Library 2.0 means that the focus of the library and the librarian is the patron.   

Shelf full of books
Old Books in Shelves by Roman Kraft licensed under Unsplash

Libraries are also “socially rich” — users can connect with other patrons and librarians via library websites and social media (Manness, 2006). For example, the Denton Public Library’s online catalog allows users to track what books or materials they use and create recommendation lists that can be shared with other users. 

Libraries are “communally innovative” — as communities change, library services adapt their services to be facilitators of these new resources, and in recent years, these resources have primarily been digital resources and educational services to train patrons on how to use them (Manness, 2006). Libraries today aim to provide accessible resources to all users and patrons despite income, background, education, etc. through diversity initiatives that focus on providing services to people or populations that have been previously underserved. The Spark is a great example of this initiative — the technology they have available to students, and the classes they host to educate students about that technology, is a bridge to accessible technological resources and equipment for students. 

However, some of the high-level services and information available to library users within libraries isn’t accessible to all people, including the “information poor” subclass, as described by Jain and Saraf (2013, p. 51) and Cancro (2016, p. 59), due to a discrepancy in the levels of library knowledge among patrons. 

Despite the plethora of digital resources available to library patrons, groups of higher socioeconomic status are able to access these resources faster and easier, creating the “information-rich”, and on the opposite end of the spectrum lies the “information-poor” who cannot afford access to those resources or are not knowledgeable of how to access them (Cancro, 2016, p. 59). Many library patrons, especially students at UNT, solely use the library for these digital resources, computers, or printers. Libraries, particularly public and academic libraries, often exist as “access points” for these technologies, but patrons might lack sufficient training to utilize those resources (Cancro, 2016, p. 59). 

Librarians and other information professionals, especially public librarians, carry the responsibility of being both the facilitator and educator on technology in the library. Librarians act as the middleman between the information and the user, or the technology and the user, and it is the library’s job to facilitate that access to information by “recruiting people from a variety of backgrounds to the profession; implementing a hiring process that will be most likely to result in the appointment of diverse librarians; and finally, committing to retaining a diverse team of employees once they are hired” (Cruz, 2019, p. 229). In addition to introducing and following through with diversity initiatives, librarians must make the effort to get ahead of needs changes and have the willingness to adapt (Hirsh, 2016). 

With the abundance of information that is available to us and our patrons, access to that information should be a right. Librarians exist to be the middleman between the information searcher and the information, easing access to that information by knowing where and how to find it, and by “bridging information access gaps” (Jain & Saraf, 2013, p. 51). The “free flow of information can reduce the digital divide/information divide among the citizens,” and libraries and librarians have the power to close that divide (Jain & Saraf, 2013, p. 47). 

Did this blog help you learn about libraries as facilitators of information access? Let us know your comments! Please contact Ask Us if you have any questions about library services. 

References:  

Cancro, P. (2016). The dark(ish) side of digitization: Information equity and the digital divide. The Serials Librarian, 71(1), 57-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2016.1157424 

Cruz, A. M. (2019). Intentional integration of diversity ideals in academic libraries: A literature review. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 45(3), 220–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2019.02.011  

Jain, V., & Saraf, S. (2013). Empowering the poor with right to information and library services. Library Review, 62(1), 47-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531311328159 

Maness, J. M. (2006). Library 2.0 theory: Web 2.0 and its implications for libraries. Webology, 3(2). 

Suggested reading: 

Hapel, R. (2012). The Library as a Place. Public Library Quarterly, 31(1), 48-55.  https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2012.654737 

Oliphant, T. (2014). “I’m a library hugger!”: Public libraries as valued community assets. Public Library Quarterly, 33(4), 348-361. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2012.654737 

UNT Digital Libraries: CyberCemetery

Posted by & filed under Library Resources.

Written by: Alexis Thomas

Welcome to the Fall 2022 semester! We hope you are having a great semester so far and are excited to welcome you back with a look into UNT’s Digital Libraries. Today, I will provide a brief introduction on what UNT’s Digital Library’s CyberCemetery has to offer.

Since we’re now in the spooky season, one may assume it refers to something quite scary. Luckily, it is not spooky at all, but it is a very useful tool to take a peek back in time. The CyberCemetery is a depository, for now, of defunct government agency websites that are managed by the UNT Libraries that can be accessed by current UNT students, faculty, and staff as well as non-UNT affiliate guests.

A foggy dark graveyard at night
I Am Become by Scott Rodgerson licensed under Unsplash.

In 2006, working in tandem with the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), UNT Libraries added our first site, the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR). Today, we have over 120 defunct agency sites available to view. Each record comes with a description of the agency, the creation date, publication, and more. Not only do you get a description for the site, but if you click on the image associated with the agency, you will be directed to snapshots of the agency’s website. An exact date and time of the site’s decommissioning is indicated at the top of the page. This process bares resemblance to taking a screenshot on your phone, the difference is that any tabs, links, PDF reports, etc. are still available for you to interact with, almost as if the site is still up and running.

Now that we have a brief overview of the CyberCemetery, why do we need it? This is a digital archive, and just like any other archive, library, or other information institution. These organizations may no longer be around but that does not mean that the work they contributed should be counted as obsolete. CyberCemetery is a resource available for you to aid you in your research, whether you need to find data/stats, reports, or memos. Considering this is a collection strictly for former United States government agency sites, it may seem beneficial for students taking courses in political science and international relations. With sites for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, students from the sciences and social sciences can also learn a lot about the progression of these fields.

For those who want to use the CyberCemetery for their scholarly writing, here’s a quick tip. Like many of our library databases, we have a tool that will help you cite the webpage. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see “Citing This Site” or use the “Citing This Site” tab located on the left side of the page.

Have you visited the CyberCemtery yet? Let us know your thoughts on this collection! If you have any questions on how to use the CyberCemetery collection or would like to know more about what is available to you, please don’t hesitate to reach out via Ask Us.

Are you applying for an academic librarian position?

Posted by & filed under Careers in Librarianship.

Written by: Madan Mohan

Two gray steel chair
Two Gray Steel Chair photo by Steve Halama licensed under Unsplash 

Here are few tips that might help you understand the interview process a little better. 

While everyone is excited about graduating, our job is not done quite yet, but instead takes us to the next important aspect of finding a job that matches our skill sets. This can be a daunting task given the various job titles and detailed job descriptions in academic libraries. There are many steps one needs to go through before being offered a position. The hiring process for an academic job can be time-consuming and can vary from one institution to another. Librarian positions can either be tenure-track or non-tenure-track faculty, academic appointees, administrative staff, or professional staff positions, stated by ACRL Guidelines for Recruiting Academic Librarians (2017).  

Finding an academic librarian job generally involves searching for a suitable posting online, applying, and going through two rounds of interviews with a search committee and others who work at the library. ACRL Standards, Guidelines, and Framework can be a helpful resource that can help you become familiar with the search committee’s specific processes and roles. They explain how various institutions follow these guidelines during the interview process and several other interview procedures, from telephone to on-site campus interviews. These guidelines can help you understand how candidates are evaluated. How is a recommendation made for hiring a candidate by the search committees, hiring authority, and senior administrators? This varies from one institution to another.  

After finding job postings you are interested in, apply only to the positions for which you meet the required qualifications (Davis, 2015, p. 138). Applying for a position requires three essential components: a resume or curriculum vitae, a cover letter, and a minimum of three references. A few excellent places to start looking for job postings online are ALA JobList, HigherEdJobs, LibGig Jobs, etc. Being an active LinkedIn user can also help you network and connect with librarians and professionals in the academic field. 

Some common steps involved when applying:  

  1. Use a professional email address that includes your full name when applying for positions online.   
  1. Proofread your resume and cover letter and make sure all attached documents have a standard naming convention. Asking a friend to proofread your resume and cover letter can be helpful.   
  1. Practice interviewing with some of the common questions like a.) Tell me something about yourself, strengths, weaknesses, b.) Explain how you have the required qualifications and meet all skills and experience mentioned in the job description. In addition to your required qualifications explain how you meet any preferred or desired qualifications listed in the posting.    
  1. Always prepare a few questions specific to the job posting to ask the search committee at the end of the interview.   
  1. Send a thank you letter expressing your gratitude by email after the interview. 

The interview process typically consists of two phases, a phone or Zoom interview and an on-site interview. These days, video interviews are becoming more common than phone interviews, though practice varies by institution. Professional dress code applies for both virtual and on-site interviews. These are some of the expected norms when applying for an academic position. In general, up to ten qualified candidates are interviewed by phone or Zoom, and the committee will then select one to five candidates for an on-site interview (Davis, 2015, p. 139). Also, have a backup plan if you have any technical difficulties connecting over the phone or virtually. Emailing the search committee or the hiring administrator about the technical difficulties can help them understand your preparedness and professionalism.   

As stated by Davis, on-site interviews for academic libraries can typically last for a full day or longer. Prior to the on-site interview, the search committee will send an information packet about the position and the library. This packet will have the contact person with whom you will coordinate during your interview. Presentations are another important aspect and a requirement for most academic library on-site interviews (Davis, 2015 p.140 – 141).   

It is a standard process to provide references when applying for a job posting. Most importantly, check with your references in advance that they are willing to be your reference and give them a heads-up if you are called for an interview by sharing the job posting, resume, and cover letter that you submitted. This way, when contacted, your references can highlight the skills that best fit the job you are applying for.   

During our GSA meeting with Kevin Hawkins, the UNT Libraries’ Assistant Dean for Scholarly Communication, he shared many valuable tips from resumes to the hiring process, and I want to share few things I found particularly helpful:  

  1. Highlighting the required qualifications in your resume/CV is essential, and telling a story about meeting those required and desired qualifications in a cover letter can help the search committee select candidates for the next stage.  
  1. Some libraries, such as UNT, evaluate candidates against the job qualification based on a point-based rubric system.      
  1. Addressing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and describing your personal experience working with diverse groups can be very helpful when applying for an academic or a teaching position.  
  1. Applications are reviewed manually by members of the search committee, though in some cases an HR employee will do a first pass to remove any obviously unqualified candidates. 

Having attended many workshops, I have often heard that resumes need to have specific keywords mentioned in the job posting to pass the automated system that reviews resumes and cover letters. However, reviewing applications through an automated system is common in private sector companies but not in academic settings (Hawkins, 2021). This is especially comforting to know that our effort and time invested in applying for academic positions hasn’t gone unnoticed because of an automated system.  

Our subject librarian Greg Hardin has valuable Career Development resources, including guides that help prepare resumes and cover letters. Also, several links to job sites, professional organizations, and more can be found on UNT’s Information Science: Career Resources guides page.   

We hope these tips helped you understand the process of applying for academic librarian jobs a little better. Feel free to share comments about your experience with these resources or contact Ask Us for any research assistance! 

Laptop on a table next to a coffee, phone and notepad
Occupational stress measures of tenure-track librarians photo by Andrew Neel licensed under Unsplash 

References  

Davis, A. R. (2015). Searching for an Academic Librarian Job: Techniques to Maximize Success. Pennsylvania Libraries, 3(2), 136-143. http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/palrap.2015.107  

Guidelines for recruiting academic librarians. (2017, June 29). American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/recruitingguide 

Hawkins, K. (2021, March 19). GSA meeting. University of North Texas. 

Test Your Banned Books Knowledge

Posted by & filed under Events.

Banned Books Week, which will take place September 27 – October 3 of this year, is described by the American Library Association (2020) as “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read”. Banned Books Week originated in the 1980s as a response to an increase in censorship and challenges to books. It is promoted by the ALA as well as several other organizations, and it has continued to the present day.

Banned Books Week recognizes both banned and challenged books. A book that has been challenged has been targeted for removal from a school or library, often due to its content; however, in most cases, the challenge will not be successful, and the book remains available. If a book is banned, this means that the challenge was successful, and the book was removed. The ALA’s website states that, although most challenges do not result in a book being banned, “part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available” (ALA, 2020).

To celebrate Banned Books Week, test your knowledge about banned and challenged books with our trivia quiz! When you finish the quiz, you can choose a favorite banned book for a mad libs-style activity. The quiz can be found at https://unt.libwizard.com/f/bannedbooktrivia and will remain available for the rest of the Fall 2020 semester.

What is your favorite banned book? Let us know in the comments!

References
American Library Association. (2020). Banned Books Week (September 27 – October 3, 2020). http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned

Preserving Cultural Heritage as an Artist and Graduate Student in Photography

Posted by & filed under Careers in Librarianship, Library Resources.

Written By: Melissa Gamez-Herrera

Introduction

Willis Library provides many materials and services, which patrons and students may be surprised to learn exist. I am the GSA in the Digital Projects Unit of Willis Library, and I digitize primary materials for institutional partners to contribute to the Portal to Texas History. I have worked on projects like the CC Cox Collection, the National WASP WWII Museum Collection the Maude Kitchen Tintypes, and many more. I also digitize books, photographs and other objects for the UNT Digital Library! This kind of work requires much in terms of time, technology and know-how. As a graduate student in the College of Visual Art and Design (CVAD), I am on my way to earning an MFA in Photography. The Digital Projects Unit was in search for a GSA that had technical experience in photography, and began a relationship with the Photography Department in CVAD. As an MFA student in Photography, I originally set out to only focus on the artistic expression of making photographs. When I discovered an opportunity to work for the Digital Projects Unit here in Willis Library I jumped at the chance to work here. I have been here for the past two years, digitizing materials primarily using the Phase One system—a tethered capture camera system used by many institutions to digitize cultural heritage materials.

Photo and Digitization

In digitization, we aim to preserve materials in a digital format so that the item, through proxy of the computer screen, will be available to a worldwide audience for the foreseeable future. “Digitization is the conversion of any type of original, be it paper, photographic prints or slides, three dimensional objects or moving images into a digital format.” (Astle & Muir, 2002. p. 67). This digital format can exist in a variety of formats that many of us with some computer proficiency may recognize, such as .TIFF and .JPEG. There is much information in Library Science scholarship which examines access and preservation goals that digitization can solve, as well as some of the challenges that can arise from this method of preserving cultural heritage. My main experience in this field has been through photography, using it as a tool to digitize cultural heritage materials.

Copy stand with Phase One/DT Photon system in the Digital Projects Unit

Copy stand with Phase One/DT Photon system in the Digital Projects Unit. Photo by the author

The Phase One system is a system standard for commercial photographers and has widely been in use for preserving images of cultural heritage materials. Technical knowledge pertaining to photography is effectively applied to digitize collections in libraries and other cultural institutions. This includes museums, too! Photography has a significant place in digitally preserving cultural heritage materials like books, music, photographs (including negatives), written oral histories, and many others. The Phase One capture system allows us to capture high resolution images of the materials we wish to digitally preserve, and that align with the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines (FADGI). Primary sourced cultural heritage images, videos, sound files and more are also made widely available on the internet through databases like the Portal.

Artists Using Primary Sources

There is an incredible amount of overlap for artists, like myself, who seek primary sources for research, and for the purpose of artmaking. Students in art can take advantage of what the Portal to Texas History and the UNT digital library have to offer. As an artist, there are many possibilities for using the Portal to Texas History for source materials such as news articles, photographs, and other primary sources. I have used video clips themselves from the Portal in my own work, as primary source research, as well as speaking to the ideas I want to communicate. This is an important aspect to creating research-based art today. Also, I have used other databases like the Newspaper Archive to create a stab bound book pertaining to my research. To take advantage of these databases that provide primary sources to make artwork is both relevant to history and the current day.

Artist Book Part 1. Photo by the author

Artist Book Part 2. Photo by the author

There is not much scholarship written which documents and examines the use of primary sources by artists and its importance. However, from first-hand experience, digital primary source databases, have heavily informed my practice. Primary source research has also allowed me to articulate the historical and theoretical aspects of my artwork so that it can exist within the context of contemporary art. In this way, primary sources that are digitally preserved become further established through the way we think about art and through our engagement with history.

References
Astle, P. J., & Muir, A. (2002). Digitization and preservation in public libraries and archives. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 34 (2), 67–79. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/096100060203400202

KXAS-TV (Producer). (1988, August 14). News Clip: Mexico Dr. [Video file]. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu. Retrieved from https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc858221

Data-Driven Decisions in library purchase

Posted by & filed under Library Resources.

Written by: Sephra Byrne

One of the challenges that every library from small, local public libraries to the academic libraries of large research universities face is how to spend their budget in a way that serves the most patrons. University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries are no exception to this struggle. The current purchasing budget at UNT Libraries sits around seven million dollars, and while this leaves a lot of freedom, that freedom can also present a challenge (UNT Libraries, 2020.) How can we as librarians make sure that the books, databases, and journals that we spend money on are really serving you, our patrons, with your learning, teaching, and research needs? We generally evaluate these resources in three ways: through analyzing individual resources like in the graph above, through our annual serials review, and through evaluations of entire subjects.

Many of the purchases of smaller items like individual books come from recommendations by our patrons and the liaison librarians they work with. This works well on a small scale, but it is possible that we are either buying too much of one subject or too little of another subject. One of the ways we try to avoid this is through periodic evaluations. Every year about five or six subjects are chosen on a rotating basis to be evaluated. This means that a subject is assessed every ten years. The assessment starts with looking into things like what classes are required for that major, the number of students majoring in that program, the research interests of faculty, and recent dissertations. Once we know these things, we can consider what students, faculty, and staff working in that subject area need. These needs are then compared against what we already have. We can also check on the quality of what we have by using comparing what we have against the Choice’s Outstanding Academic Titles (OAT) lists for books and looking at the rankings of journals we offer in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Finally, the information about how often resources like books, journals, and databases is collected in order to gauge how well what we have in that subject area is used. These pieces of information are compiled into a report detailing the strengths and weakness of that what we offer for that subject. After creating this report, it can be reviewed by both librarians and a departmental representative so that we can earmark money for making improvements over the course of the next year.

Evaluations are good for looking at the quality of what we offer for each subject area as a whole, but UNT Libraries pays for hundreds of electronic journals and resources on an annual basis. These e-resources range from collections of movies and music1 to 3D models of anatomy complete with lessons and quizzes2 to raw data sets3. The cost of these e-journals and e-resources can range from less than fifty dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. With this much money at stake, it is important to know whether these resources are well-used. This is done on both an ongoing and case-by-case basis. Every year all the databases, eBook packages, journals, and other resources above a chosen price-point are ranked by their total usage, the inflation of their costs, and their cost per use. Once this ranking has been created, resources at the bottom of the ranking can be put on the “endangered species” list. This means that they will be more carefully watched, promoted, or in rare cases, cancelled all together.

More in-depth and individual evaluations are often needed on a case-by-case basis. This is done for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, the price of a specific resource is up for negotiation and the librarians negotiating want to know more about the resource and its value. This sort of analysis is also done when new resources are being considered. Instead of trusting that a recommended resource will be well-used, similar journals or databases can be considered to see how well-used they are and how the proposed resource might fit into what we offer. One of the main ways that we can measure the value of a resource is through a simple cost per use calculation. The graph shown in the header is an example of a cost per use calculation where the usage for that resource was collected from our databases along with the costs for each specific resource. The annual cost was then divided by the usage for that year. We look at this cost per use calculation as well as trends in the usage so that we can make a recommendation based on evidence.

Here at UNT Libraries, we are working hard to develop better ways to assess and enhance our collections using evidence to make decisions. You too can have an influence on our collections here at UNT Libraries. If there is a book, journal, or resource that you think we should purchase but currently do not have, you can suggest purchases here, or you can e-mail us at askus@unt.edu about any questions you might have. We really value your input when making decisions, and we enjoy helping you find what you need to be successful here at UNT. Also, if you want to see more visualizations of our collections data and recent evaluations from our Collection Assessment department, feel free to visit our Tableau profile. Many of the visualizations there are updated regularly with monthly usage data. What do you think?
Please leave a comment below.
1 Do you like theatre? You should check out Digital Theatre+ for a lot of recorded theatre productions as well as behind the scenes information. We also subscribe to Naxos which has a wide variety of music from pop to jazz to classical.
2 Primal Pictures Anatomy has 3D interactive models of human anatomy and learning modules for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology topics.
3 Check out Sports Market Analytics for extensive sports data or Morningstar for economics data that is updated daily.

References:
UNT Libraries. (2020). Updated Report 2020. Collection Assessment. Denton: University of North Texas Libraries. Retrieved January 13, 2020

Greetings from Scholar Speak Team

Posted by & filed under Library Resources.

Written by: Scholar Speak Team

2020 Balloons

2020 Balloons by cottonbro licensed under Pexels

Back in January 2019, Graduate Service Assistants (GSA) at UNT Willis Library started a blog, Scholar Speak, as a medium to bridge the gap between students, patrons, and their library where we are continuing to discuss topics and events related to UNT Libraries. As of Spring 2020, Scholar Speak team includes Anima, Frances, Hui-Yu, Madison, Sarah and Utsav.

This month, Scholar Speak is celebrating its first year and we would like to thank all our contributors and readers of 2019! We have a total of 15 posts and we are looking forward to have new posts, contributors and readers.

If you are a graduate student working for UNT Libraries and/or have an idea for a scholarly blog post that could benefit our readers, the GSAs in Access Services would like to formally invite you to submit your ideas and write a post for our Scholar Speak blog.

For more information, please email AskUs@unt.edu or directly contact GSA Madison at madison.brents@unt.edu

Have a wonderful year of 2020 and feel free to leave suggestions or comments in the comments form or simply AskUs. We would love to hear from you.

Interview with a Special Collections Librarian

Posted by & filed under Careers in Librarianship, Library Resources.

Written By: Madison Brents

stacked books

Stacked Books by Suzy Hazelwood licensed under Pexels

Are you fascinated by all things old and rare? As an aspiring librarian, I certainly am. However, despite this fascination, I have never visited UNT’s Special Collections Library because I found it intimidating and felt like I could not go if I did not have a reason. Thankfully, I recently had the opportunity to interview Special Collections Public Services Librarian Meagan May to learn more about this department of the UNT library. If you only have a vague idea of what a Special Collections Library does, and how to use it, then this interview should be as beneficial to you as it was for me!


  • What is a special collections library?
    A special collections library is one that houses and preserves rare and archival materials and collections. One of the main things that set apart special collections from general collections is that the materials generally do not circulate. This isn’t too keep people from accessing them, but rather to ensure that materials are kept in safe conditions. At UNT, our Special Collections include rare books, oral histories, university archives, historical manuscripts, maps, microfilm, photographs, art, and artifacts.
  • I was surprised to see there are items in the collection one would not normally expect, such as items that are not old, or items that are not even books. Could you talk more about that?
    There are a ton of items in our collection that fall outside of those categories! We have toys, games, comics, art, posters, maps, clothing, posters, buttons, quilts, and even the odd hamster skull and preserved gecko. One of our more popular collections, particularly when it comes to class visits, is our Photography Study Collection. We have a growing collection of prints, portfolios, and books by notable modern and contemporary photographers. Several of the artists in the collection have works also owned by major museums and institutions – so it really is a unique opportunity to view them together and isn’t something many would expect us to own.
  • Is there an item in the collection that is very popular among patrons?
    I don’t know if I would say there is a particular item, but everyone seems to really enjoy looking at our Miniature Book collection. We have over 3,000 items in that collection, all of which are books under 4” in height. A large number of these miniatures are on display in the Hughes Reading Room and include antique miniatures, fine press miniatures, artists’ books, propaganda miniatures, mass-market miniatures, Texana miniatures, and several miniatures that were at one point considered “the smallest book in the world.” It’s definitely worth checking out if you haven’t had the opportunity, and it’s actually the collection that brought me to UNT Special Collections for the first time as an MLS graduate student.
  • Who can use UNT’s special collections library? Do those who wish to visit need to make an appointment?
    Anyone can visit and use UNT’s Special Collections library! You don’t have to be a researcher or even a member of the UNT community to come visit. We have an exhibition space in our Reading Room that holds semester long exhibits as well as our Miniature Books display that is available to be viewed by anyone and everyone during our open hours. However, if you’re interested in requesting materials, the timeline is a little different. We have a small space onsite where we keep some of our more popular items and collections, but most of our materials are stored offsite. Because of this, there’s generally a 24-48 hour wait time between when a request is submitted and when it is available to be viewed. Once the material is onsite and available though, no appointment is needed to come in and view it.
  • Do you have advice for students who are interested in utilizing special collections for their research but don’t know where to begin?
    My best advice is to reach out to us. Conducting research with primary sources and other special collections materials is a learned skill that takes practice, and we understand that. Our staff is always happy to meet with researchers and assist them with everything from how to locate materials in the catalog and our finding aids to showing them best practices when it comes to viewing, handling, and understanding materials.
  • When I was doing research for this interview, I noticed a lot of articles talking about the importance of primary sources. Could you maybe expand on what those are and how it applies to special collections?
    Primary sources provide raw information on people, places, and events, which is why archival materials such as correspondence, scrapbooks, records, journals, and other similar items are considered so important to scholars and their research. Special collections and archives everywhere work to make sure these items are preserved and cared for because, without them, we would lose those first-hand accounts and insights into the past.
  • Is there anything else you think students should know about special collections?
    Please come check us out! Next time you’re in the library or have a few minutes to spare between classes we’d love to see you. We have an amazing student-staffed service desk that’s always excited to tell you more about our collections, help you request or access materials, and show you around the reading room.
I did not realize the extent of special collections, and after talking with Meagan I find it much less intimidating. Thank you to Meagan for agreeing to an interview, and for providing so much useful information. I know I will be traveling to the 4th floor of Willis to visit the Special Collections library, and I hope you will join me.

If you have any additional questions contact AskUs@unt.edu, or contact Special Collections directly at SpecialCollections@unt.edu.

Will you start using this library service? Comment down below!

What is Open Access?

Posted by & filed under Databases and Journals, Library Resources.

Written By: Frances Chung

You may have come across the term “open access” while searching for journal articles online. Open access (OA) refers to publications that are “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions” (Suber, 2015). On the other hand, closed access journals charge readers or their institution a fee to view articles. Many journals and databases offered through your institution are closed access and may be paid for by student fees and grants.

OA was initially created in response to high journal costs that made research and information inaccessible to those without large budgets. Nowadays, there are many ongoing discussions about the economics behind OA and its sustainability. Furthermore, because OA is a relatively new publishing model, some fields doubt its reliability and resist its use.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about open access is that it is low-quality and not peer-reviewed. In truth, many OA journals follow peer-review processes similar to that of closed access journals and uphold high publishing standards as well. In every academic field, there is at least one OA journal ranked at or near the top in terms of impact. As Suber (2015) states, “OA is compatible with every kind of peer review and doesn’t presuppose any particular model.”

An open access repository stores and provides access to journal articles. A well-known OA repository is PubMedCentral (PMC), which is funded by the National Institute of Health and provides full-text articles in biomedical and life sciences. A directory of over 4,000 OA repositories can be viewed on the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR).

Some databases or library catalogs allow you to narrow down results to open access items only, while others like the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) consist exclusively of open access journals. DOAJ contains about 12,000 open access peer-reviewed journals in the science and humanities. It is independent and funded by sponsors, members, and publishers. You can search for articles using the basic or advanced search options, or by using the Browse Subjects feature.

Screenshot of DOAJ homepage

Screenshot of DOAJ homepage

Interested in learning more about Open Access? Check out the UNT Libraries’ Open Access Guide or Open Access @ UNT. As always, feel free to reach out to Ask Us if you have any questions or comments.

References

Suber, P. (2015). Open Access Overview. Retrieved from https://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm.
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