In my current position at Sinclair Community College, I’m the librarian in charge of instruction and assessment. That basically means that I coordinate our teaching efforts for all different academic departments. But perhaps the biggest part of what I do is the assessment part of the equation: attempting to track what our students are actually learning […]
Academic Librarianship
Are eBooks Bad for Reading and Writers? Leasing vs. Owning and More
This week Wired published a provocative article about ebooks. In the piece, titled “The Abomination of eBooks,” author Art Brodsky points out how the applicable rules for ebooks are fundamentally different than those for print books; in particular ebooks are leased rather than actually bought and owned. Because of this, he argues that it doesn’t make […]
New Job and Some Other Professional Updates
Two weeks ago I started a new position at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. I’m the Instruction and Assessment Librarian, which means I’ll coordinate the library’s teaching efforts and also work with librarians and faculty to improve student outcomes when the curriculum or assignments include a research component. I’ll also staff the reference desk […]
Graduation!
Last week I graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign after finishing up my master’s program in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. It feels great to be finished, although I really enjoyed my time here and can hardly believe it has already come to an end! Over my two years at GSLIS […]
What’s Wrong with Theft and Security in Special Collections? A Study of the RBMS Guidelines
Security in special collections[1] can refer to the prevention of two separate things: the theft of rare materials and incidental damage at the hands of patrons or staff. For the purposes of this paper I will focus on the former, although accidental harm and gradual wear can at times be an even larger concern for […]
Academic SEO: Why Search Engine Optimization Isn’t Just For Businesses
SEO is often thought of as a purely commercial endeavor: companies and other for-profit websites use keywords strategically, make use of headings and meta tags, and build inbound links in order to increase search engine positions and generate more revenue. But in the world of academia, scholars are also recognizing a need to implement some […]