The Authority File

In the final episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of On Comics and Grief, discusses the title’s epilogue and the future of comics studies. First, Dale walks through the feedback he received from peer reviewers that encouraged him to conclude on a more hopeful note. Highlighting the benefits of peer review, he chats about his decision to include reviewer comments in the epilogue. Next, Dale tells the tale (or tail?) of a key figure that showed up in the text, Dale and his wife Heidi’s cat, Klaus. A stray that eventually found a permanent home with Dale and Heidi, Klaus helped Dale through a time of loss and overall burnout, earning a shoutout in the epilogue. Finally, Dale looks ahead to topics in comics scholarship still left untapped, including “typical comics” outside the superhero genre and the overarching aim to keep the personal within academic work.

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In the third episode of this four-part series, our guests tackle the on the ground realities of librarian skill development following the recent white paper from Technology from Sage and Skilltype, Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape. Marcy Simons, Director of Hesburgh Libraries Organizational and Personnel Development at the University of Notre Dame, and Tony Zanders, Founder & CEO of Skilltype, dig into how library schools have failed to address the evolving demands of academic librarianship, even before the introduction of artificial intelligence tools. Marcy notes the lack of consistency across library and information science programs, while Tony highlights how Skilltype aims to help library schools understand today’s environment and adjust curriculum quickly and accordingly.

Further, Marcy and David Erlandson, Head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services at Rice University Fondren Library, chat about findings in the report on student success and how their libraries support this initiative. Finally, Tony and Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage, reflect on the report’s finding that librarians value building transferable skills rather than those specific to certain products—in the rapidly changing landscape, flexibility allows for resiliency and autonomy in the profession.

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In the third episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of On Comics and Grief, discusses the book’s creative nonfiction framework that blends comics studies scholarship with the grief over the loss of his mother. Dale takes us back to the beginning of the title, starting with an article that saw his nostalgia and grief as an access point into the text, rather than a roadblock. Walking through the evolution of the book structure, Dale describes the largely intuitive writing process, guided by a general outline of comics to analyze and connections to family memories. Further, he explains how a scholar’s personal relationship to a discipline allows new ideas to form in a way that traditional, impersonal academia can prevent. As Dale notes, “I wanted to write this partially as a way to say, not in every instance…but there is a place for bringing the personal in, for bringing in the reasons we study what we study, for bringing emotion in.”

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In the second episode of this four-part series, our guests parse through key takeaways and findings from the recent white paper Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape, a partnership between Technology from Sage and Skilltype. To start, Tony Zanders, Founder & CEO of Skilltype, and Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage and author of the report, each discuss what stood out in the paper, highlighting lower confidence from librarians in how to advance in their careers and a newfound emphasis on strengthening soft skills—a facet of librarianship not traditionally taught in library schools.

In addition, Marcy Simons, Director of Hesburgh Libraries Organizational and Personnel Development at the University of Notre Dame, and David Erlandson, Head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services at Rice University Fondren Library, share their thoughts on the report and how it reflects their own experiences at their institutions. Addressing the burnout and challenges today’s library leaders face, Marcy explains the need for stronger leadership development to help fill the gaps in supervisor roles. Dave ponders how AI tools will impact cataloguing and day-to-day tasks and underscores the importance of strong data science skills.

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In the second episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of On Comics and Grief, dives deeper into the structure and making of his title, a creative nonfiction work that blends memories of his late mother with analysis of comics published in 1976. First, he explains his thought process behind selecting a wide variety of publishers and comics to research, extending beyond the superhero genre to include war, romance, fantasy, kids, and teen comics. Further, he highlights the business and marketing strategies comic book publishers employed in 1976 that reflect the changing demand and publishing landscape. Finally, he chats about the March and September chapters in the book, the latter’s unique format allowing him to contemplate the common practice in academia of turning conference papers into research papers.

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In this four part-series, Tony Zanders, Founder & CEO of Skilltype, Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage, David Erlandson, Head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services at Rice University Fondren Library, and Marcy Simons, Director of Hesburgh Libraries Organizational and Personnel Development at the University of Notre Dame, discuss the current landscape of librarian skills and career advancement. A partnership between Technology from Sage and Skilltype, Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape white paper came together after Matthew and Tony saw an opportunity to combine their perspectives to investigate how librarians navigate career changes, upskilling demands, and comfort levels adapting to new technology. In this series, our guests chat about key report takeaways, the importance of cultivating soft skills, and how generative AI tools will impact future careers in librarianship.

In this first episode, Tony and Matthew provide background on the report’s origins and goals. Beginning in April 2023, the white paper captured real-time institutional responses to GenAI entering campus and affecting librarian workflows. Further, Tony and Matthew share why they chose to focus on job categories rather than job titles to make the report more flexible for the future and account for the lack of uniformity across title descriptions. Last, Marcy and Dave characterize the state of professional development at their respective institutions, sharing procedures, budgetary constraints, and novel uses.

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In this four-part series, comics studies scholar and author Dale Jacobs digs into his latest book, On Comics and Grief, an exploration of comics published in 1976 interwoven with his grief in the wake of his mother’s death. The book’s creative nonfiction structure blends Dale’s memories of his family with comics spanning romance, war, children, teen, fantasy, and, of course, superhero genres. As Dale explains, his intimate approach to scholarship allowed him to find new connections and perspectives he may not have found otherwise. In this series, Dale walks through his creative and research processes for the book, the comic book landscape in the 1970s, and the potential of applying a personal lens to academic work.

In the first episode of this four-part series, Dale dives into the development of his book and background in comics studies. He explains his path to the discipline, starting in composition and rhetoric, then transitioning into thinking about how comics fit into multimodal literacy. Defining comic book scholarship, he lays out its multidisciplinary nature, highlighting myriad approaches like political science, English studies, disability studies, art history, and media studies. Finally, he describes how the interdisciplinarity of comics studies influenced his book and why he chose the publication year of 1976 for the comics he examined in the text.

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In the final episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, discusses digital preservation practices and whole ebook lending trends at Purdue. He first emphasizes the institution’s digital-first approach and how that impacts the availability of materials down the line. As Nathan explains, storing e-resources on vendor servers can throw the preservation of an institution’s cultural record into question. In addition, Nathan describes the differences in workflows between collection development and preservation for the humanities and social sciences versus STEM fields. Finally, Nathan wraps up with observations on how publishers are responding to whole ebook lending requests, highlighting how involvement in a consortium affects institutional collection priorities.

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In the third episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, digs into the details of evaluating and negotiating resource licenses. He first walks through his March 2024 Against the Grain article where he outlined key items he looks for in resource licenses. Sharing Purdue’s needs regarding interlibrary loans, off-campus access, and accessibility, Nathan reveals the balancing act and language of contract negotiations. Further, he highlights how the negotiation process has changed in recent years, such as vendors using online—and therefore more changeable—terms and conditions or factoring in consortium needs for whole ebook lending. Last, Nathan chats about what he’s seen in terms of artificial intelligence offerings showing up in vendor clauses and contracts.

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In the second episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, talks navigating vendor platforms and adapting to the evolving e-resources ecosystem. Comparing vendor offerings, he explains the differences in accessibility between public library platforms and academic ones—and theorizes why the academic options lag behind. Further, he explores what the “e-resources ecosystem” entails, detailing the lifecycle from a patron request to negotiating a contract and deciding on renewal. Last, Nathan touches on the coordination between library departments when acquiring content and how his institution factors in open access materials for library cost management.

Missed an episode? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter, Choice Podcast Updates, and check out the Authority File Round-Up on our blog, Open Stacks!