In the past couple of weeks, I’ve published two papers. I just wanted to plug them briefly here: “From Weberian Rationalization to JavaScript Components: Modularism in Academic Library Software” was published today in Information Technology and Libraries, and discusses the pervasiveness of modular approaches from the social sciences to library software. It is where Max… Continue reading Two papers
Category: research
Grind
Every summer, I set myself a deadline: I have to finish and submit a paper before school resumes in the fall. This push in the summer is absolutely necessary because it is an unbeatable opportunity: it is so much quieter at the library than during the rest of the academic year. I know that once… Continue reading Grind
In praise of the case study
The academic literature of librarianship is a bit narrow sometimes. Most journals expect conformity to an article structure taken directly from the social sciences. In my experience, this can chafe at a librarian’s creativity: we sometimes need to go to tremendous efforts to find ways to shoehorn our ideas into that social science article structure,… Continue reading In praise of the case study
Coding with those who show up
This week, I have a new paper out titled “Coding with those who show up: Two methodologies on technical committee work” in Information Technology and Libraries. It is licensed CC-BY-NC, so you can read it for free here. The point of the article is that the literature on “laissez-faire leadership” is disproportionately (and in my… Continue reading Coding with those who show up
Further thoughts on building AR projects in libraries
Caroline Jedlicka and I recently published a paper in the Journal of Web Librarianship called “Creating a Homemade Mobile Augmented Reality Game in a Community College Library: An Open Source Approach.” This link will get you past the journal’s paywall. For me, the standout message of the article is that you do not need a… Continue reading Further thoughts on building AR projects in libraries
Committing to reading one academic article per day
This post is a bit of a departure from the library technology stuff I usually post about, but I feel that it is very much core academic librarianship, so probably relevant to some people here. I was listening to this interview with Eleanor Colla, where she talks (among many other things) about committing to reading… Continue reading Committing to reading one academic article per day
Research and sordid calculations about promotion
I’m up for promotion this year, and it’s too late to try to get any more research papers published before my file gets reviewed by the promotion committee. So a few days ago I made the very pragmatic/mercenary decision to not start any new research projects right now. Instead, I’ll focus on committee work, which… Continue reading Research and sordid calculations about promotion
In praise of buying low quality books
I buy a lot of really bad books on Amazon. They’re minor books, on fringe topics, and they’re usually well out of date. They’re also usually incredibly cheap, like two or three dollars, or some such. And while they’re generally pretty uninteresting, they can often offer a citation to support a minor point in a… Continue reading In praise of buying low quality books
In which, undeterred, I try to figure out what to write next
One never-ending challenge for faculty is finding things to write about. The problem is especially acute for those on the tenure track, but it really applies to almost anyone in a faculty role. Moreover, coming up with the wrong idea can be a real setback. It’s possible to spend months working on a topic before… Continue reading In which, undeterred, I try to figure out what to write next
Librarian achievement unlocked
I’m running my first survey, so I feel like a real academic librarian now. Surveys are so ubiquitous in our field that I’m surprised I’ve managed to avoid doing one so far. It has been an interesting process. To administer the survey, my college set me up with a Qualtrics account and an IRB application… Continue reading Librarian achievement unlocked
