The Authority File

Being flexible. Staying fluid. Chasing a moving target. Besides dealing with overused analogies, academic librarians face the challenging task of providing digital resources and assistance to faculty and students in an online learning environment many have never before experienced—nor been equipped to handle. Three librarians, Linda Van Keuren of Georgetown Medical, Sally Gibson of Missouri Western State, and Kat McGrath of the University of British Columbia, found surprising overlap in the strategies assumed and tools provided at their libraries in the aftermath of college closures in March, despite their institutions’ varying populations and needs. In the first episode of this four-part series, they discuss their institutions’ background, the first few weeks of scrambling online, and the new initiatives that have stuck through the summer months. Whether it’s collecting a COVID-19 resource list, creating online education workshops for faculty, or taking a deep dive into inventory lists to avoid superfluous spending, Van Keuren, Gibson, and McGrath have much to discuss on the universality of staying flexible, and the unique needs of their colleges’ populations. Sponsored by: SAGE Publishing

What does it mean to be “scholarly?” Or maybe another way of getting at what we mean here is, “what counts as scholarship? What should?” Those questions kick off Siobhan McMenemy and Hannah McGregor’s conversation about scholarly podcasting. What is it? How does it work? Can you even do that to a podcast? McGregor ‘s show, Secret Feminist Agenda, served as the test case for Wilfrid Laurier University Press’s attempt to provide podcasts with the same scrutiny and rigor the press brings to its academic books. But in the case of a podcast, what does peer review look like? How do you think about improving the scholarly aspects—and the production, sustainability, and audience—of a podcast? This four-episode series discusses all of those questions and more, while this episode dives deep into the skills an academic editor brings to the table and how they apply (or don’t or sort of do) to podcasting. Sponsored by: Wilfrid Laurier University Press

When COVID-19 entered our lives, one of the underlying anxieties from the looming illness was the uncertainty—when will life go back to normal? But as July comes to a close and the race for a vaccine continues, we face the reality of sitting with this pandemic long-term, and what that means for our education and economy. Dr. Rupert Maclean of RMIT University looks at both the short and long-term effects of the pandemic on education and the job market, and predicts a transformation in the 21st-century skills that employers will demand. “Intelligence isn’t just to do with one’s analytical skills and mathematical skills and scientific skills; there are many other areas of intelligence such as empathy, such as social intelligence.” In this final episode, Dr. Maclean considers the major elements of social disruption in this past year, and how our education systems need to adjust to alleviate our social, economic, and educational inequities. “What we have to do is diagnose the situation, and then look at what we can do to address the sort of tensions that are occurring to enable there to be a betterment of the human condition, rather than something which actually detracts for many people from the quality of their lives.” Sponsored by: Springer Nature

When we look back on this year, 10, 20, or 50 years down the line, what will we remember? What will become the official narrative of 2020? What will slip between the cracks of our collective memory? (Murder hornets, hopefully.) In Toni Samek’s co-edited volume Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now, contributors discuss the state’s control over access to archival materials, and how vital archives and all cultural memory institutions are in preserving history. During the current pandemic, in a time when anxiety and instant information breed conspiracy theories or dangerous falsehoods, Dr. Samek concludes that these institutions need to be able to collect and preserve these stories to dissect and understand them later. In this final episode, Dr. Samek explains the institutional collaborations that can develop between librarians, archivists, and curators in order to strengthen each branch for the betterment of society—whether during a global pandemic or not. “We have to think about institutions that share a space on the cultural and informational network and make sure that they’re working in solidarity even though the work that they do may be a little a bit different … At the same time, we work with records and we are in a sense memory institutions.” Sponsored by: University of Toronto Press

As wealth disparities grow and the costs of higher education rise, inequities in access to education become starker. The value of education to society depends in part on the number of people it reaches, but lawmakers and educators keep wondering: who’s going to pay for it? Dr. Rupert Maclean of RMIT University realizes the intricacies of this issue: “We have to look at what we can do to have education and schooling that is a benefit to all sections of the community, give everyone the chance to develop their talents to the full, and to also gain from the economic development potential of their particular country … but getting that balance right between what people should pay for individually and what the society should pay for is a very important dialogue that has to be worked out.” In this third episode, Dr. Maclean discusses how equitable access shapes job opportunities, which affects not only young people entering full-time employment, but older generations asked to update their expertise in order to remain economically valuable. “People are in occupations that are going out of favor, that are no longer required, and they have to retool or reskill themselves to actually be able to meet the changing job market needs.” Sponsored by: Springer Nature

In our capitalist society, libraries—free, public spaces—continually face the challenge of trying to prove their value through quantitative, tangible means. But what about the emotional value? The abstract, qualitative worth? The opening chapter of Dr. Toni Samek’s co-edited volume, Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now, poses the controversial question: Libraries—why bother? As budgets shrink and librarians struggle to prove their institutions’ worth, Dr. Alice Crawford’s chapter dives into the appeal of considering libraries through qualitative rather than quantitative means. Dr. Samek explains: “The traditional metrics of counting and tracking and using the records becomes problematic, so I think what’s she’s trying to do is really just inform and drive broader attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and thinking about the need for more sophisticated ways and metrics of understanding where we’re at and where we need to be.” In this third episode, Dr. Samek discusses how this provocative chapter answers the existential question of what’s the point? by coupling libraries with our fundamental rights. “I think what she does is really connect us to, in her own way, thinking about the universal declaration of human rights, and how much of those articles really do relate to humans’ interaction with information.” Sponsored by: University of Toronto Press

As the cost of college in the US continues to rise, prospective students wonder how their postsecondary education will help them land a career. When universities feel the pressure to prepare students for the ever-changing job market, how does that impact the offered curriculum?

Dr. Rupert Maclean of RMIT University interrogates how a vocationally-driven education model has impacted how we view schooling, and the good—and bad—that can result from this shift. “We have to be careful, because if we move too far in that direction, we might forget that education isn’t just concerned with preparing people for work, it’s concerned with preparing them for life. Because individuals are also voters, and members of civil society. They are people who in my view should also contribute in a comprehensive way to the betterment of their society not just through the labor force.”

In this second episode, Dr. Maclean discusses the appeal of lifelong education in the information age, and how that connects to the rise of the vocationalization of education. “We have to learn over the full span of our lives. We can be assisted with this, but we must also take personal responsibility. If we don’t engage in lifelong learning, we’re going to be left behind. We’re not going to have the repertoire of skills required to continue in gainful employment.”

Last November, the Citrus County Commission in Florida denied its library funding for a digital subscription to the New York Times. One commissioner cited the paper as “fake news.” 1 While libraries are commonly perceived as impartial providers of information, they often face contestations—geography, funding, politics—that impact a library’s holdings and role in its community.

Dr. Toni Samek of the University of Alberta understands the myriad of ways libraries can face opposition. In the foreword of her co-edited volume, Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now, Tami Oliphant and Ali Shiri lay out the various forces obstructing libraries. Dr. Samek explains: “Of course they’re contested entities and commodities … We have concerns about access, about sustainability, about preservation that affect and often determine the content, the media, and technology housed within these cultural institutions and memory institutions.”

In this second episode, Dr. Samek discusses the library’s task in representing the public sphere, and interrogates whether libraries can truly be seen as neutral spaces. “The library is there to provide as many perspectives as possible to foster that Jeffersonian principle of the informed citizenry, but there are reasons why we may not be able to provide 360 degrees of opinion … There’s blind-spots about who’s on staff and what kinds of collections, programs, and services have historically been put forth.”

Established in 1945 after World War II, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) works to inspire and help build peace through promoting robust and comprehensive educational opportunities and reforms worldwide. With 193 member states in all parts of the world, from Thailand, Iraq, and Germany to the Pacific Islands and virtually all countries in between, the organization takes on issues like gender disparity, teacher training, and equitable access.

Dr. Rupert Maclean of RMIT University is now based in Australia, but spent much of his educational career at UNESCO offices in Paris, Bonn, Yangon, and Bangkok. “One of the things that we try to emphasize across all our programs in education is educational innovation for development. What innovations can we adopt to help improve the situation regarding strengthening education and schooling?”

In this first episode, Dr. Maclean discusses the educational trends he has identified by working internationally, and how they connect to his primary interests in vocational education and adapting curricula to fit rapidly evolving workforce needs. He also provides a brief overview of the multiple book series and handbooks published by Springer Nature that he’s worked on throughout his career as an academic, UNESCO professional, and educational consultant.

Corralling contributors for an edited volume is no easy task. Adding the extra step of encouraging contributors to communicate and read each other’s chapters is a whole other undertaking.

Toni Samek of the University of Alberta and coeditor Patricia Demers were willing to challenge the writers of their co-edited volume, Minds Alive: Libraries and Archives Now, to read the whole manuscript and interact with each other. Dr. Samek explains that though this communication between contributors required “a little bit of nudging,” it was worth it. “It really I think encouraged some people within our book community to maybe go out and follow up on readings and references and lines of thinking that maybe were not what was in their base.”

In the first episode of this four part series, Dr. Samek discusses the process of finding contributors, organizing chapters, and discovering the through-lines in the final product, Minds Alive, a work of contributed essays that explore the value and import of libraries and archives in our hyper-networked world. Dr. Samek also digs into her background as a professor and former chair at the School of Library and Information Studies, and her own scholarship interests of expressive freedom, human rights, and information ethics.