The Authority File

What does “displace” mean to you? For Nduka Otiono, author of DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono, the English meaning of the word elicits feelings of in-betweenness, migration, and a complex relationship with home. The pidgin words “dis” and “place” connect to Nduka’s Nigerian homeland and broader pan-African themes. When spliced, “dis-place” plays with the tension between languages, a concept wrestled with throughout the volume. In short, DisPlace means quite a lot.

In this third episode, Nduka and Peter Midgley, editor of DisPlace, discuss the inspiration and meaning behind the collection’s title. Peter comments on its conversational tone, and explains how it foreshadows the philosophical, metaphysical, and political questions in the text. Nduka also examines how the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced his writing; faced with death and stasis allowed for greater introspection, and eventually, catharsis.

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

Primary sources can rarely be taken at face value. For Dr. Rebecca Crites, understanding and unpacking the bias, context, and power structures in newspapers, letters, police blotters, and more is essential to her research on violence and abuse. However, if approached with the right tools and understanding, primary sources can offer insight into both the creator and the subject of a source. As Becky states, “Primary sources can actually have this really radical function to challenge the historical record so far, or collective memories that reify and reproduce those unequal power structures.”

In this second episode, Becky breaks down the challenges of using primary sources in her area of research. She discusses the lack of preserved materials from the silenced and oppressed, and explains the importance of recognizing the power dynamics embedded into our historical narratives. Felix Barnes of Adam Matthew joins the conversation to reflect on how primary source use has changed over time, and why librarians offer essential custodianship and guidance for primary source research.

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

Primary sources can rarely be taken at face value. For Dr. Rebecca Crites, understanding and unpacking the bias, context, and power structures in newspapers, letters, police blotters, and more is essential to her research on violence and abuse. However, if approached with the right tools and understanding, primary sources can offer insight into both the creator and the subject of a source. As Becky states, “Primary sources can actually have this really radical function to challenge the historical record so far, or collective memories that reify and reproduce those unequal power structures.”

In this second episode, Becky breaks down the challenges of using primary sources in her area of research. She discusses the lack of preserved materials from the silenced and oppressed, and explains the importance of recognizing the power dynamics embedded into our historical narratives. Felix Barnes of Adam Matthew joins the conversation to reflect on how primary source use has changed over time, and why librarians offer essential custodianship and guidance for primary source research.

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

What differentiates literature from world literature? How do western conceptions of literary works categorize or diminish contributions from those outside the West? In today’s age of connectivity, migration, and growing diasporas, is there really a need for this distinction? Was there ever?

While constructing DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono, author Nduka and editor Peter Midgley wrestled with these questions among other conventions of global literature. Confronting concepts like the decolonization of knowledge and conflicting cultural approaches to spirituality, Nduka and Peter hoped DisPlace could complicate theories of language, world citizenship, and modern poetry.

In this second episode, Nduka describes how his Nigerian roots and background in oral poetry shape the narratives and sequence of his writing. He also grapples with the complexity of choosing between a colonial and indigenous language and balancing multiple cultural contexts in his poetry. Peter explains his wariness of terms like “world literature,” “global south,” and “third world country,” and the importance of overturning long-held notions of what defines the literary canon.

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

Primary source research no longer requires pulling scrolls from basement-stored archives. Thanks to modern database technology, students can easily access and interact with digital primary sources throughout their academic careers. But access doesn’t necessarily equate to expertise. What literacy skills do primary sources demand? How can librarians and faculty teach these skills with the aid of primary source databases and tools?

In this four-part series, our guests discuss today’s use of primary sources amidst technology like digitization, keyword search, and handwritten text recognition. Dr. Rebecca Crites, a research fellow at the University of Warwick, walks through how to incorporate primary sources into curricula and teach students to effectively use the materials. Felix Barnes, an editor at Adam Matthew Digital, explains how the publisher supports primary source literacy through new technology and its online learning tool Research Methods Primary Sources.

In this first episode, Becky defines primary source literacy and the skills needed to evaluate the diverse forms primary sources can take. Felix digs into Adam Matthew’s process of sourcing materials, and how its platforms guide students through their engagement with a resource. Finally, Becky offers a primer on using primary sources in the classroom. Practice, context, and inquiry are key—not simply asking if a material is useful. “I encourage students not to ask whether a source is useful—and this is quite common among first year undergraduates—because every source is useful to a researcher if they ask the right questions.”

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

For Nduka Otiono, associate professor of African Studies and English at Carleton University, and Peter Midgley, an independent scholar and editor, their friendship was inevitable. Meeting at the University of Alberta, they crossed paths within a community of writers and quickly bonded over a shared interest in oral and African literature. Over the years, Peter unofficially lent his red pen to Nduka’s work before, finally, Wilfrid Laurier University Press asked Peter to edit Nduka’s recent book of poetry, DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono.

In this four-part series, Nduka and Peter discuss the making of DisPlace, a text that explores the confines of diaspora, language, and politics. They reflect on imperfect terms like “world literature” and “global south” and wrestle with language’s inherent ties to identity. As Peter notes, “our literature’s not divorced from the societies we live in.”

In this first episode, Nduka and Peter offer background on their research interests and how they came together to collaborate on DisPlace. They also flesh out the writing and editing process of the collection, and dig into the complications of applying a western lens to non-western poetry.

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

Open repositories. The proliferation of preprints. Real-time engagement between non-academics and researchers. For many, these elements represent the positives of open science, all of which gained prevalence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But can these temporary changes become permanent? What is the future of open research?

In the final episode of this four-part series, Caroline Nevison and Dr. Ritu Dhand, both of Springer Nature, discuss the prospective landscape of open science. First, Caroline reveals how Springer Nature supports libraries post-transformative agreement. She details the provided workflows and analytics that allow institutions to track the benefits of open access publishing for its authors, faculty, and administration.

Ritu underscores how COVID-19 has shaped the open science environment. Looking ahead, she details what the open movement needs—from government agencies, publishers, and researchers—to sustain its momentum, and its advantages to the scholarly community and society at large.

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

A publisher is only as good as its partnerships—especially in the age of open access (OA). But beyond library-publisher agreements or OA consortium goals, how can publishers advance the scholarly ecosystem toward more widely accessible OA publishing paths? What are the benefits of treating open science as a collaborative goal instead of an independent, siloed mission statement?

In this third episode, Caroline Nevison and Dr. Ritu Dhand, both of Springer Nature, join the program to discuss the publisher’s recent partnerships in support of open science. Ritu digs into an ongoing open access trial with authors to reduce article processing charges (APCs). Caroline highlights a case study with The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), which looks at how to maximize open research’s societal impact through alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Last, our guests touch on the importance of pricing transparency. By pulling back the curtain behind every APC—peer review, copyediting, design, legal services—publishers can reveal the work that open access advocates may perhaps overlook.

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

A publisher is only as good as its partnerships—especially in the age of open access (OA). But beyond library-publisher agreements or OA consortium goals, how can publishers advance the scholarly ecosystem toward more widely accessible OA publishing paths? What are the benefits of treating open science as a collaborative goal instead of an independent, siloed mission statement?

In this third episode, Caroline Nevison and Dr. Ritu Dhand, both of Springer Nature, join the program to discuss the publisher’s recent partnerships in support of open science. Ritu digs into an ongoing open access trial with authors to reduce article processing charges (APCs). Caroline highlights a case study with The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), which looks at how to maximize open research’s societal impact through alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Last, our guests touch on the importance of pricing transparency. By pulling back the curtain behind every APC—peer review, copyediting, design, legal services—publishers can reveal the work that open access advocates may perhaps overlook.

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

A transition point on the way to a fully open access model, transformative agreements allow institutions to retain traditional subscriptions with publishers, while also permitting researchers to publish in open or hybrid journals. Middle ground, compromise, the best of both worlds, right? But as transformative deals grow more popular, some in the scholarly publishing world question their legitimacy as true path to OA publishing. Do transformative agreements help or hurt organizations’ transition to open science?

In this second episode, Caroline Nevison and Dr. Ritu Dhand, both of Springer Nature, discuss the drivers, benefits, and challenges of transformative agreements. Caroline speaks to the lack of uniformity in open access policies between countries, and even regions, therefore highlighting the advantages of hybrid journals’ flexibility. She also touches on the particular obstacles smaller publishers face, like a lack of funding or infrastructure needed to scale up to open publishing. Ritu underscores the positives of TAs for authors, and describes how Springer Nature can ease the transition to OA by providing easy-to-use workflows and guidance.

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

Open access (OA)—initiatives that push for free, publicly-available research—has faced an uphill battle. But despite OA’s initial lack of funding and government support, authors, organizations, and publishers have now begun to adopt open policies around the globe. Looking ahead, where will open access go from here? More specifically, how can publishers ease the transition to open science?

In this four-part series, our two guests from Springer Nature offer the publisher perspective on the path toward open science. Caroline Nevison, Director of Commercial Transition OA, and Dr. Ritu Dhand, Vice President Editorial Nature Journals, dig into the drivers behind transformative agreements, the coexistence of open and subscriber-based content, and open science’s potential impact in and outside the scholarly community. Ritu and Caroline share perspectives from both an editorial and marketing viewpoint, tracing Springer Nature’s adoption of open science practices and its broader implications on the marketplace.

In this first episode, Ritu walks through her five pillars of open science and highlights Springer Nature initiatives that embrace those principles. Caroline discusses how OA models have evolved in recent years and underscores the effects of hybrid policies on library-publisher partnerships.

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

Open access (OA)—initiatives that push for free, publicly-available research—has faced an uphill battle. But despite OA’s initial lack of funding and government support, authors, organizations, and publishers have now begun to adopt open policies around the globe. Looking ahead, where will open access go from here? More specifically, how can publishers ease the transition to open science?

In this four-part series, our two guests from Springer Nature offer the publisher perspective on the path toward open science. Caroline Nevison, Director of Commercial Transition OA, and Dr. Ritu Dhand, Vice President Editorial Nature Journals, dig into the drivers behind transformative agreements, the coexistence of open and subscriber-based content, and open science’s potential impact in and outside the scholarly community. Ritu and Caroline share perspectives from both an editorial and marketing viewpoint, tracing Springer Nature’s adoption of open science practices and its broader implications on the marketplace.

In this first episode, Ritu walks through her five pillars of open science and highlights Springer Nature initiatives that embrace those principles. Caroline discusses how OA models have evolved in recent years and underscores the effects of hybrid policies on library-publisher partnerships.

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

Throughout the pandemic, what once was considered optional in higher education—asynchronous learning, accessible features, electronic resources—has now become the norm. At work and in the classroom, many have embraced new methods of communication with welcome results. But does everyone experience these changes equally? Are online classes an asset or a roadblock in connecting with students? Why did it take a global pandemic to provide these options in the first place?

In this final episode, our guests look at the impact disparity of new policies and mandates since the pandemic’s beginning. Cynthia Clark of Bentley University bemoans the digital divide and varying levels of digital readiness, each contributing to the other’s negative effects. Gwendolyn Combs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln discusses how underlying inequities existed long before COVID exacerbated them; she unpacks her disappointment with technology access being the flashpoint that spurred action to address these societal problems. Finally, Rhonda Sharpe of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race and Hari Rajagopalan of Francis Marion University highlight the benefits of the virtual environment, such as the use of chat, ease of online meetings, and faculty’s increased approachability off campus.

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