The Authority File

Modern life can create a stark contrast between the human and animal worlds. Animals—especially larger, predatory mammals—in cityscapes or suburban neighborhoods are often treated as an anomaly, danger, or cause for social media posts. However, as Sundhya Walther, Presidential Fellow in English at the University of Manchester, points out, humans and animals have and continue to share spaces, even if these relationships fall outside the western scope of the animal studies discipline.

In her latest title, Multispecies Modernity: Disorderly Life in Postcolonial Literature, Sundhya focuses on contemporary India to unpack animal-human interactions in real life, literature, art, and media. Joining The Authority File, she digs into key concepts like disorderly multispecies living, creating a “postcolonial freedom” for nonhumans, and evolving animal studies into a more general ecological field. She also explores the multidisciplinary approach of her research and how the climate crisis factors into and colors her work in nonhuman studies.

In this first episode, Sundhya introduces us to her current research in animal-human interactions in postcolonial literature. She contextualizes her focus on modern-day India, uncovering how animals factor into India’s iconography, power structures, and shared spaces. Sundhya also discusses the limits of postcolonial theory when applied to animal studies, revealing that “…even ideas of humanizing the colonized subject subscribe to certain hierarchies that we may be better to try to dismantle as much as we can, that it continues to privilege an idea of the human that in turn continues to exclude.”

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In the final episode of this series, Stephanie Espinoza Villamor and Kimberly Shotick, coauthors of Practical Marketing for the Academic Library, dig into the assessment and implementation of DEI policies in library marketing. Our guests share why recognition and understanding are not enough to enact meaningful change at an institution, and advocate for taking steps to ensure that marketing materials are accessible, diverse, and culturally appropriate. In addition, Stephanie and Kimberly map out how marketing teams can include DEI efforts in the assessment process, highlighting assessment’s role as a tool to help marketing teams better reach their library and institution’s goals.

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In the final episode of this four-part series, Rachel Friars, a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University, digs into her approach and the evolution of her work with primary sources. In addition, Rachel explains how the diaries of Anne Lister—a 19th-century lesbian diarist, traveler, and landowner—became archived and widely digitized, narrowly escaping becoming lost in history. Our guest also discusses her current work in pulp fiction and the difficulty of locating materials in this area due to their ephemeral nature, various publication methods, and prevalence of pen names. Last, Rachel closes with thoughts on why archives are so important in researching queer history. As she notes, “When you search for queer lives in the past, you’re demanding a political presence, you’re demanding a social and archival and historical presence that is extremely necessary for, as I said, the survival and connection of the past and the survival and connection of the present.”

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In the third episode of this four-part series, Stephanie Espinoza Villamor and Kimberly Shotick, coauthors of Practical Marketing for the Academic Library, reflect on the importance of building a team for library marketing efforts. As the guests describe, teams enable different parts of the library to come together under a strategic plan, and can help avoid burnout or inefficient spending on resources. Next, Stephanie and Kimberly discuss the time and place for both formal and informal teams; formality allows for structure, subcommittees, and built-in assessment, while informal teams work well for flexible, short-term projects. Last, our guests share recommendations for those who are a “library of one,” advocating for joining existing teams on campus—library-centric or not—to drive collaboration and push the institution’s mission forward.

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In the third episode of this four-part series, Rachel Friars, a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University, parses out the unique demands of both the archives and primary source databases. She explains the primary source literacy needed to overcome the barriers of archival research—notably, the urge to take any source at face value, instead of considering the rich cultural and historical context needed to situate each resource. In addition, Rachel unpacks the ethical needs of the archives, such as the importance of proper citation and the pitfalls of overgeneralization. Last, Rachel discusses how she plans to incorporate primary sources into the classroom, and the enthusiasm she’s already received from undergraduates first encountering queer archives.

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In this second episode of the four-part series, Stephanie Espinoza Villamor and Kimberly Shotick, coauthors of Practical Marketing for the Academic Library, discuss the primary audiences of library marketing initiatives, and how messaging differs based on the distinct needs of students, faculty, and administration. In addition, our guests highlight the benefits of strong relationships with administrative staff, such as budgetary support or connections to departments across campus. Last, Stephanie and Kimberly differentiate between the traditional “marketing for the mind” and the more modern “marketing for the heart.” Through the empathetic approach of the heart, librarians can better reach the “whole student” by considering patron anxieties, Generation Z’s online habits, and the basic human needs of today’s students.

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Although primary source databases now feature technology like handwritten text recognition, keyword search, and—most crucially—digitized versions of physical items, interpreting primary sources still require traditional skills in patience, organization, and general research. For example, Anne Lister, a 19th-century lesbian diarist, traveler, and landowner, wrote hundreds of journal entries throughout her life that add significant insight into queer history. However, she employed her own code for many of the writings, making the texts difficult to understand and decipher. Not to mention, the archives written in English feature hard-to-read cursive, crowded pages, and context particular to that time period and Anne’s life. As Rachel Friars, PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University, notes, “The archive…requires a slowing down, getting to know it” that secondary sources often do not.

In this second episode of the four-part series, Rachel describes the collection of Anne Lister, highlighting Anne’s extraordinary life and unique coding used in her journal entries. In addition, Rachel explains how AM’s Sex and Sexuality modules improve her research workflow through increased digital access and an intuitive layout. Last, she reflects on the slower pace that archives require and the comprehensive research needed before digging into primary sources.

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Marketing—whether volunteer-based or through designated staff—is an essential component of the modern library. Informing students of resources, aiding faculty with curriculum goals, and demonstrating impact to administration all fall within the scope of library marketing. Beyond reaching these groups, marketing allows library staff to reassess offerings, improve services, and better understand patron needs.

After presenting on “marketing from the heart” on an ACRL panel, Stephanie Espinoza Villamor, eLearning librarian at the College of Southern Nevada, teamed up with Kimberly Shotick, student success librarian and assistant professor at Northern Illinois University, to write Practical Marketing for the Academic Library. Combining community college and four-year institution perspectives, Stephanie and Kimberly crafted a guide that underscores the need to accurately and successfully market your library in an age of increasing competition—student union spaces, online depositories, and, of course, the Internet writ large.

In this four-part series, Stephanie and Kimberly walk through practical steps to understanding your audience, crafting messaging, and forming effective teams to accomplish this work. They also discuss how to apply a DEI lens to marketing elements and integrating DEI into assessment and overall outcomes. In this first episode, our guests introduce themselves and differentiate between “marketing” and “outreach.” They also highlight how library messaging has evolved over the years, and answer the basic question: why does a library need to market itself in the first place?

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Primary sources provide unique insights into the past. But for Rachel Friars, a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University, they also offer a context and history that informs the present. More specifically, Rachel’s research in lesbian literature and neo-Victorianism calls for historical queer perspectives that go beyond medical or legal representation, and instead center the presence of a queer record. As Rachel notes, firsthand queer archives can “…[reassure] these queer communities that we’ve always been here, we’ve never been anywhere else, and, in some ways, there’s nothing modern about queer communities.”

In this four-part series, Rachel joins The Authority File to chat about the use and importance of primary sources in her research. She highlights the magnitude of the diaries of Anne Lister, an English woman whose lifelong journal entries on her life, travels, and sapphic relationships act as a significant contribution to the queer historical canon. She also discusses the benefits of primary source digitization, how to walk students through the archives, and the dynamic infrastructure of AM’s Sex and Sexuality modules.

In this first episode, Rachel gives an overview of her area of research in 19th-century lesbian literature and history. In addition, she underscores how archival materials remain relevant in the contemporary context, especially within queer studies. Last, Rachel differentiates her approaches to primary and secondary sources, exploring the obscurity archives hold and the detective work needed to uncover their meaning.

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In the final episode of this four-part series, Jason Camlot and Jeffrey Weingarten, coeditors of Unpacking the Personal Library: The Public and Private Life of Books, share key takeaways on collection practices and the value of personal libraries. First, Jeffrey parses out the library’s complexity as a research tool, and the need to suspend all assumptions on which parts of a personal collection carry the most meaning. Jason also shares thoughts on what personal libraries can offer in terms of acting as a window into the holder’s intellectual development and interests. Last, our guests examine how collection development strategies evolve and differ between public and private collections—what a library chooses to preserve can depend on bandwidth, budgetary constraints, and the collection holder’s level of fame or prestige.

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