Meet Your Library Archives - Page 3 of 3

GUEST BLOG: Gaining work experience in Strozier.

Margaret Bell, undergraduate student and data analyst for FSU Libraries, provided insight into her experience working in data assessment.

As a senior undergraduate student at Florida State University, I’ve become very aware of the different opportunities to be pursued on both on and off campus. This awareness, however, took me years to develop – and had I not had a job on campus, I’m sure it would have taken a lot longer. With so many people to compete with for on-campus jobs, I remember being afraid that I would graduate with zero professional experience to put on my résumé – something that seemed a little too risky especially when considering that I had no idea of what I wanted to do post graduation. Although I’m still unsure of my path at this time, I was fortunate enough to secure a position in Strozier’s assessment department by the end of my sophomore year. Members of the assessment department are responsible for collecting and analyzing data related to FSU libraries (among many other things), so as a double-major in Psychology and Editing, Writing & Media, I certainly hadn’t foreseen “Data Analyst” being my first job title.

After a period of training and adjusting to my schedule, I quickly came to see the benefits of working in Strozier. This job has been an opportunity to learn more about the resources that FSU Libraries offers students, faculty, and staff. Not just offering a physical space for learning and studying, the libraries have also compiled an invaluable online source full of useful information. Working in assessment and having to update the assessment Facts & Figures page has allowed me plenty of time to become very familiar with the Libraries’ website – something I recommend that all students do.

As this was my first time having a regular part-time job, I came in with a few worries; mostly that I would have a difficult time juggling work with classes and other extracurriculars. However, I was pleased to discover an emphasis on school coming first. This allowed me to comfortably work around my other responsibilities while also being able to supplement my FSU experience with exposure to working in a professional environment. For that reason plus the availability of many different job positions, I would absolutely advise job-seeking students to consider working for FSU Libraries.

Enrichment related to my academic and professionally-related experience aside, working in the library has added so much to my time at FSU just in terms of the wonderful people I’ve met. The assessment team – including my amazing boss Kirsten Kinsley, mentor Elizabeth Yuu (a recent graduate with a Master’s in Biostatistics who also happens to be my idol), and awesome undergraduate peers Rachael Straley and Jake Tompkins – have made the latter half of my college experience better than I ever could’ve asked for. So if there’s one thing I’d recommend to future students, it’s to not take the library for granted.

FSU names new dean of University Libraries

Florida State University has named Gale S. Etschmaier as dean of University Libraries, effective Sept. 7.

Etschmaier has served as the dean of library and information access at San Diego State University since 2011.

“Florida State is pleased to welcome Gale Etschmaier as our next dean of libraries,” said Sally McRorie, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “Our extensive library operations are critical to student and faculty success at every level and in every program. Dean Etschmaier’s proven record of innovative leadership will help keep our academic progress toward the Top 25 on track.”

Etschmaier succeeds Julia Zimmerman, who concluded her 11-year tenure as dean June 30.

As dean, Etschmaier will be responsible for the visionary leadership and overall administration of University Libraries, including oversight of nearly 140 employees and an annual operating budget of more than $18 million. The university’s collections total more than 3 million volumes, with a website offering access to nearly 900 databases, 86,500 e-journals and more than a million e-books.

“I’m excited to join the University Libraries and participate in achieving the university’s strategic goals,” Etschmaier said. “Florida State University’s libraries have attained a record of distinction, and I welcome the opportunity to work with an exceptional group of faculty and staff to build on the existing excellence and chart a course for the libraries in the digital age.”

At San Diego State, Etschmaier provided leadership for the library and the university’s student computer hub with more than 700 computers. She oversaw 80 faculty and staff, 100 student assistants and a budget of approximately $12 million.

Prior to her tenure at San Diego State, Etschmaier spent a decade as associate university librarian for public service at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. During that time, she held interim appointments as the acting associate university librarian for collection development and acting associate university librarian for library information technology. Etschmaier also served as head of George Washington’s Document Delivery Services Department from 1995-2000.

Etschmaier earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from State University of New York Stony Brook and a Master of Library Science from SUNY Albany. She received a doctoral degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010.

Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates conducted the national search, and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Sam Huckaba chaired the 13-member search committee.

BY: AMY FARNUM-PATRONIS | PUBLISHED: JULY 12, 2018 | 2:31 PM |

FSU Libraries welcomes first cohort of Diversity Resident Librarian Program

Florida State University Libraries welcomes its first cohort of the university’s new Diversity Resident Librarian Program, which aims to increase the number of qualified academic librarians from members of traditionally underrepresented groups.

In alignment with Florida State’s strategic plan, the goals of the program are attaining more diversity of thought in program development and libraries practices and increasing agility in serving diverse student and faculty populations.

“We were looking for early career librarians who could offer us unique perspectives while we provide them with opportunities and assignments that will help them hone their skills in academic librarianship,” said Susannah Miller, interim dean of FSU Libraries and associate dean of administration.

During their three-year appointments, the four resident librarians will have the opportunity to develop competencies and skills in the areas of higher education librarianship. The program will concentrate on providing services to students and faculty, libraries operations including acquisition and collection management, special collections, and areas of strategic focus such as technology and digital scholarship.

“We hope that this program will open up opportunities for residents to begin long-term careers as academic librarians,” said Bridgett Birmingham, FSU’s diversity and inclusion librarian. “We are doing our part here at FSU Libraries to make sure that our academic libraries better reflect the diverse communities that we serve.”

The cohort also will engage in libraries practices, including faculty assembly activities, professional development, work teams and management meetings.

Each resident will be placed in a functional area where they will further hone their skills. Experienced librarians will provide mentorship and guidance to the residents specific to their needs and skill levels, and the residents will work with members of senior management on career-focused individual development plans.

Meet the residents:

Arias completed her Master of Library and Information Science degree at the University of Washington, and she will complete a Master of Arts in History with an Archival Administration Certificate from the University of Texas at Arlington this summer. Arias’ professional and research interests include information literacy, especially in underserved populations, and diversity and inclusion in collection development in archives and academic libraries.

Mohkamkar is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a Master of Science inLibrary Science and Master of Arts in Linguistics. Before coming to FSU, he worked at the Dallas Public Libraries. His research interests include library usage by international and other minority student groups and working to promote accessibility of academic library materials.

Rawls comes from the LeRoy Collins Main Library in Tallahassee, where she served as a Youth Services Information Professional for two years. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in interdisciplinary humanities and earned her Master of Library & Information Science, both from FSU. Her research interest includes information literacy, open access resources and increasing diversity and inclusion in academic libraries and research.

Before coming to FSU Libraries, Rodriguez spent nearly a decade working in film and audiovisual media preservation and exhibition. After graduating from New College of Florida (‘09), he earned an MA in film and media studies from the University of Florida (‘11), where he first began working with media collections. Rodriguez went on to attend The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman Museum, where he later served as an instructor and chief projectionist of the Motion Picture Department. He managed the archive at The Center for Moving Image Arts at Bard College before returning to his hometown of Miami in 2015. There, Rodriguez worked as an archival film projectionist in arthouse cinemas, as a technician at Continental Film & Digital Laboratory and in Special Collections at University of Miami Libraries. His research interests include digital stewardship, media archaeology, media art preservation and developing open educational resources and outreach in these areas.

To learn more about the Diversity Resident Librarian Program, contact Bridgett Birmingham at bbirmingham@fsu.edu.

FSU Libraries Announces 2018-19 Alternative Textbook Grant Recipients

FSU Libraries is proud to announce the winners of our second round of Alternative Textbook Grants. The grant program, launched by the Libraries in November 2016, awards successful applicants with $1,000 to support the adoption or creation of open or library-licensed course materials that are available at no cost to students. These high-quality materials are written by experts and peer-reviewed, ensuring a level of intellectual and instructional rigor on par with expensive commercial equivalents.

Applications were evaluated based on criteria balancing the estimated savings to students, the openness of the proposed materials, and the likelihood of the materials being adopted by other courses at FSU.

Based on projected enrollment figures for the courses in question, the instructors participating in the second round of this program are expected to save FSU students up to $213,580 by Summer 2019, and the total projected savings across all grant recipients since the program’s inception are expected to exceed $270,000.

Congratulations to this year’s winners! For more information about the open education movement and related initiatives at FSU, see our research guide on OER, or contact Devin Soper, Scholarly Communications Librarian at FSU Libraries’ Office of Digital Research & Scholarship.

2018-2019 Grant Recipients:

Filiberto Asare-Akuffo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography. His research interests include transportation, healthcare accessibility, GIS, and spatial modeling and analysis. Asare-Akuffo regularly teaches GIS 3015 “Map Analysis”. He plans on adopting content from three open textbooks in his Fall 2018 “Map Analysis” course.

Gregory Burris is a US Army veteran and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography. He has two Master’s degrees from Florida State in Geographic Information Science and History. He has presented papers at the Southern British Historical Association, the Northern Great Plains conference, Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers meeting, and the annual AAG Conference. His research interests include biogeography, bioclimatology, and historical geography. Burris will use open textbooks and online videos in GEO2200 “Physical Geography” in the upcoming school year.

John T. Bandzuh is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography. His research interests include health geography, political ecology, and vector-borne diseases. Bandzuh will incorporate journal articles in place of textbooks in his Fall 2018 GEO4930 “Geography of Wine” course.

Ella-Mae Daniel is Teaching Faculty in the School of Teacher Education within the College of Education. She teaches elementary education methods courses and supervises teaching assistants in the College of Education. Daniel will use journal articles to supplement regular course materials in a new IFS course entitled “Reimagining Intercultural Conflicts and Diversity,” expected to be offered for the first time in Spring 2019.

Vanessa Dennen is a Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies in the Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems. Her research investigates the cognitive, motivational, and social elements of computer-mediated communication. She teaches courses on learning theory and instructional design and research methods for new and emerging technologies. Dr. Dennen is developing her own multimedia resource with graduate students for EME2040 “Teaching and Learning with Technology”.

Arash Fahim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics. His research interests include Applied Probability and Financial Mathematics. Dr. Fahim will convert his extensive lecture notes into an alternative textbook for use in MAP5601 “Introduction to Financial Mathematics”.

Giray Okten is Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and a Professor in the Department of Mathematics. His research interests include Computational Finance and Monte Carlo and quasi-Monte Carlo methods. He will use lecture notes in lieu of textbooks in his MAD3703 “Numerical Analysis” course in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019.

Paromita Sanyal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. Her research focuses on understanding development and anti-poverty & women’s empowerment interventions from a sociological perspective. Paromita received her doctorate from Harvard University and regularly teaches undergraduate and graduate Sociology courses. She plans to adopt journal articles and an open-access textbook in her 2018-2019 offerings of SYG1000 “Introductory Sociology”.

Koji Ueno is a Professor in the Department of Sociology. He received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University, and his research interests include sexuality, mental health, and social networks. Dr. Ueno will incorporate an open textbook, journal articles, and online videos in SYG2010 “Social Problems”.

Willie Wright is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography. His research interests include Black geographies, urban geography, and cultural geography. He received his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In lieu of textbooks, Dr. Wright will use online documentaries and videos in his Fall 2018 offering of GEA1000 “World Regional Geography”.

International Programs Grant Recipients:

Edward James Hansen is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychology. He earned his Ph.D. at Northern Illinois University with an emphasis in Social/Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and he also holds a master’s degree in Sports Psychology. Dr. Hansen has taught “Child Psychology”, “Psychology of Personality”, “Research Methods”, and a Special Topics course focusing on Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Dr. Hansen will use online book chapters and journal articles in Summer 2018 in PSY4930 “Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Applied Social Psychology” at the London Study Center.

Tracie Mahaffey is Associate Teaching Faculty and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Philosophy. She received her doctorate from Florida State University. Her research interests include philosophy of action, feminist theory, and ethics. Dr. Mahaffey will adopt the open textbook Reading for Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction to Philosophical Thinking in PHI2010 “Introduction to Philosophy” in Summer 2018 and 2019 at the London Study Center.

Patrick Merle is an Assistant Professor in the College of Communication and Information. He studies media effect with an emphasis on political and international perspectives. His teaching areas include Public Relations, Political Communication, and International Communication. He will in utilize alternative textbooks in COM3930 in Summer 2018 at the Florence Study Center.

Lisa Munson is Teaching Faculty in the Department of Sociology. She studies social inequality and social justice, particularly public sociology – applying sociological knowledge to promote social justice in the community. She will use journal articles and open textbook material in SYG1000 “Introductory Sociology” and SYG2010 “Social Problems” in Summer 2018 at the Florence Study Center.

FSU Libraries’ Celebration of Newly Tenured Faculty

Florida State University President John Thrasher and the FSU Libraries will host a Celebration of Newly Tenured Faculty and Showcase of the Library Endowment Book Collection at the President’s House this week. This special initiative serves the dual purpose of honoring the great achievement of earning tenure, while also helping to sustain the University Libraries’ ongoing efforts to develop collections that support teaching, research, and intellectual inquiry.

Every year, members of the new class of tenured faculty hand-pick an item for the libraries to purchase or from the FSU Libraries’ vast collections. These new and current library holdings are then book plated and inscribed with the faculty member’s name and the year. In addition, the faculty members are asked to contribute a brief paragraph explaining why the book they selected is meaningful to them.

Each of the books will be on display at the President’s House during a special reception.

To view a list of honored faculty and the books they selected, please visit lib.fsu.edu/celebrationoftenure.

The Learning Curve: A Digital Pedagogy Internship in Review

Digital Pedagogy is difficult to define. Among other things, it is an idea, a philosophy, a way of thinking, and how instructors think about instructional tools. There is no manual on “how to” Digital Pedagogy. There are no instructions to follow, and it is only an emerging idea and field, which makes it all the more experimental. This semester, FSU Libraries decided to take on a new Digital Pedagogy initiative. This is where I came in, and like instructors and schools that have adopted Digital Pedagogy initiatives, I quickly learned how difficult these new projects can be to implement.

I started my internship with FSU’s Office of Digital Research Scholarship (DRS) in August. It was also my first semester starting life as an Information Science graduate student. Truthfully, there are few times in life where I have entered into a new position with absolutely zero expectations (because I had genuinely no idea what I was getting myself into), but beginning my internship with DRS’ new Digital Pedagogy initiative was one of those times.

If it is not yet clear, yes, Digital Pedagogy is really broad. While I was familiar with both terms separately, “Digital Pedagogy” was new. So, upon receiving the call that I would be working on this new initiative, I immediately began my Google search. I sifted through articles about using technology to enhance education and the philosophies that espoused beliefs about Digital Pedagogy meaning more than simply using technology in classrooms, but using it to expand critical thinking and provide opportunities for growth and development. It was a broad topic, but I was certain that my role in the internship would be more focused, so I entered FSU’s DRS Commons with confidence and just a few nerves.

On Day 1, I met Micah, one of the creators of this new initiative. Sitting in the DRS commons, he told me that my role would be to create a project dealing with Digital Pedagogy. Like Digital Pedagogy, there were no constraints, no rules, or requirements. Needless to say, this ambiguity was mildly alarming to my Type A personality.

Putting aside my sudden impending anxiety, I turned to Lindsey, the Distance Librarian, who was also pioneering the initiative. Lindsey sent me articles and research on Digital Pedagogy, and eventually, this led me down the Rabbit Hole of Research and I discovered Dr. L. Dee Fink’s 2003 paper “A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning.” This guide is designed to help college-level instructors design their courses so that students leave with more than a grade in the course, but knowledge and passion that extends beyond the semester.

It is no secret that many instructors do not consider pedagogy or educational theory when designing their courses, and this guide was created to help instructors think about these areas. Yet, I wondered, how many instructors have read the guide? How many instructors even knew it existed? Thus, the Canvas Module “Designing Courses for Significant Learning” was born.

The note-taking process became extensive

The idea behind the module was that it would be a resource to instructors and the emerging Center for Advancement of Teaching on campus. For weeks, I drafted the module, picked apart the guide to decide which areas to keep and discard, learned how to create items on the Canvas LMS, and put hours of work into making supplementary materials for the module that did not exist in the original guide. After several weeks, the project felt complete. I included pre-tests to help guide learners to navigate the module and created navigation tools so that the material did not have to be read or completed in a linear fashion, as learning itself is rarely linear. I included graphs, videos, and personal writing assignments for users to work alongside the module. In the end, I was certain this would be a great resource and, perhaps, might help bridge the gap of how to bring Educational Theory to Higher Education instructors, using Digital Pedagogy.

(As reference, here are some visuals of things I created. The first I created using Canva as a short reference for instructors to take “on the fly” or to be used as a short reminder to instructors after they work through the module. The second and third are screenshots of something that I assumed would be very easy but ended up being the most frustrating part of creating the module- figuring out how to edit the navigation- without knowing HTML. Thanks to basic HTML YouTube videos and too much time spent playing with the system (far more time than I care to admit), I managed to somewhat break through the LMS-barrier and non-linear course structure actually became a possibility.)

If you are anticipating an impending but or however, here it is. I created the module with guidance from Micah and Lindsey for the Center for Advancement of Teaching and instructors on campus, but left out the obvious piece of the puzzle: meeting with the director of the Center for Advancement of Teaching. So, when this meeting finally happened in November, it should have been no surprise when she told me, regretfully, that the project was not one that aligned with the current work of the Center. In other words, the weeks of work, hair-pulling, and stress of beginning a new graduate program and internship while continuing my full-time job, suddenly felt ultimately and utterly useless. I told her it was fine. It wasn’t, really.

After some deep reflection and head-to-desk moments of frustration, however, I have come to the conclusion that the overall experience was a positive one. I learned much as a first semester Information Science graduate student taking on a library internship. Primarily, I discovered how self-directed libraries can be. Though I had guidance from Micah and Lindsey, the project was ultimately mine to decide, create, and implement. I also learned how, frankly, it does not matter how much momentum and excitement begin a project, these factors do not mean the project will be successful or go exactly as planned.

Like Digital Pedagogy, creating a project from scratch, for an initiative that has not been established in the library, is difficult. There is no how-to guide for problem solving through issues or getting everyone on board with an idea. It takes time, energy, and flexibility. When one idea falls through, rather than dwell on the failures of the past, there is no option but to pick up the pieces and keep moving forward. If I had more time with the library, I would venture to do just that, but as the semester is coming to a close, I am ultimately grateful for the opportunities I had to experience the many facets of what it means to be in an Academic Library.

#Textbookbroke FSU

To celebrate Open Education Week (March 27-31), a team from University Libraries partnered with the Student Government Association to bring the #textbookbroke campaign to FSU. #Textbookbroke is a national campaign aimed at informing students about Open Textbooks, Open Educational Resources, and alternatives to traditional textbooks. It is also aimed at empowering students to provide feedback on their course materials and encourage their instructors to explore more affordable alternatives.

To that end, we organized two well-attended tabling events at Strozier and Dirac, with the goal of engaging with as many students as possible over the course of each event. We created an engagement display board where students could share the most they have spent on textbooks in a single semester, and we also encouraged students to complete a short survey on how the textbook affordability problem has affected them.

Over the course of the events, we spoke with hundreds of students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and at different stages of their educational careers. 316 students contributed to the engagement board, and 350 submitted responses to the student survey. Overall, the data from the engagement board suggests that $407.32 is the average maximum amount spent by students on textbooks in a single term across all disciplines. Some of the more striking findings from the survey include the following:

93% of students would use an online textbook if it was free
97% of students feel that a $30 print textbook would reduce financial strain
72% of students have decided not to purchase a required textbook due to high cost
11% of students have decided not to take a course due to the cost of the textbook

These findings not only underline the impact of the textbook affordability problem on FSU students, but also suggest that the vast majority of our students would support broader adoption of OERs and Open Textbooks at FSU. We believe that students can play a key role in promoting such broader adoption by becoming advocates for OER on campus, and we hope that our many conversations with students during #textbookbrokeFSU will inspire them to take action to that end. At the same time, FSU Libraries is doing its part to support FSU instructors in adopting more open, affordable course materials through an Alternative Textbook Grants program that launched in late 2016.

This is an exciting time for open education at FSU, and our team is looking forward to continuing to advocate for change in this space, providing both students and instructors with the information and resources they need to make a difference! For more information about the open education movement and related initiatives at FSU, see our research guide on OER, or contact Devin Soper, Scholarly Communications Librarian at FSU Libraries’ Office of Digital Research & Scholarship.

Introducing our Newest Librarians

Continuing the series, here are two more of our new librarians.

Renaine Julian – Data Research Librarian

Hi folks. My name is Renaine and I’m the Data Research Librarian at FSU. I’m a three time FSU alum and I couldn’t be happier to be back on campus! Before starting my current position, I worked for the Libraries for about five years as a student worker and, later, as a staff member before heading over to the state-wide library consortium, The Florida Virtual Campus.

The Data Research Librarian is a new position and I’m responsible for creating a new suite of services for students and faculty related to quantitative data as well as the management of research data. That being said, I can help you find data as well as figure out what to do with it once you have your hands on something useful. If you’re creating large datasets for your research, you’ll need a plan for managing that information and, in many cases, making it available to others. I’m working with other folks in the Libraries and around campus to develop data management consulting services to assist you in planning to keep your research intact, findable and usable.

I’m also the subject specialist for Economics, Geography, and Urban and Regional Planning. My research interests include: data management, data visualization, open data, emerging technologies and digital libraries. I work in the Scholars Commons which is located in Strozier’s basement. Please come by and say hello.

Contact Renaine – rjulian at fsu.edu

[Editors note – photo coming soon! That’s how new Stacey is!]

Hello! My name is Stacey Mantooth and I am a new addition to the library staff at Dirac Science Library. Before joining Florida State University, I earned my MSLS at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and worked at the EPA Library at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. While I’ve lived in several states around the Southeast and Midwest, this is my first time living in Florida, and I’m excited to see what Tallahassee has to offer.

As the liaison to the Chemistry and Biochemistry and Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science departments, I help students and faculty with research activities like finding journal articles, writing literature reviews, patent searching, or managing data. I also help make decisions about what materials the Libraries buy or keep for these subjects. In addition to my regular library and liaison work, I’m interested in doing research on the information needs of STEM faculty and students on campus. Studying which information researchers need, knowing how they go about getting it, and understanding how they view the research process could lead to improved University services and greater STEM success.

Contact Stacey – smantooth at fsu.edu