Browsing by Author "Vaaler, Alyson S."
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Item Critical Business Collections: Examining Key Issues Using a Social Justice Lens(The Charleston Library Conference, Purdue University Press, 2017) Howard, Heather A; Macy, Katharine V.; Corey, Seeman; Vaaler, Alyson S.Academic librarians perform a balancing act between the needs of patrons, licensing restrictions, and the missions of our libraries. As part of the work to develop our campus collections, academic business librarians work with both schools and commercial vendors to provide resources that our business students and faculty require. Business publishers charge academic customers pennies on the dollar for access, but are likely to seek protections for their intellectual content by placing usage restrictions that run counter to what librarians would prefer. This can cause difficulties for librarians in serving their unique populations. This also can run counter to the central principles of “Critical Librarianship,” which is based on a foundation of social justice, the belief that everyone deserves equal opportunities and basic economic, political, and social rights. Balancing the needs of the publishers and business school communities with the principles of critical librarianship is a great challenge for everyone who serves these communities. Business librarians from across the United States explore ways in which collections and critical librarianship collide. Topics covered include the effects of database licenses on the intersection of theoretical academic work and practical business activities, challenges faced by public institutions supporting community entrepreneurs, and how the integration of critical pedagogy with information and data literacies can bring awareness to problems within current collections such as access to information, issues in data collection, and information creation. Through discussion, we hope to provide insight to ways in which libraries, as intermediaries between patrons and vendors, can help address these difficult problems.Item Managing the changing climate of business collections(The Charleston Library Conference, Purdue University Press, 2018) Macy, Katharine V.; Howard, Heather A.; Vaaler, Alyson S.Librarians that support business programs are weathering competing priorities in business collection management. When making decisions to cut and add new databases, we must assess the value of a given resource by considering a variety of quantitative metrics such as usage, cost per use, cost per citation, and pricing history. In addition, qualitative criteria are increasingly important when making decisions. These criteria include, but are not limited to, content coverage, accessibility, and whether a resource can be provided in a way that supports the principles of critical librarianship. This Lively Lunch discussion provided three brief presentations, which discussed (1) how value is determined for existing resources using metrics that are useful for holistic collection analysis and individual resource analysis (Macy), (2) critical librarianship and the selection of new business resources (Howard), and (3) managing accessibility requirements with business resources (Vaaler). Following the presentations, the librarians and vendors engaged in conversation in regard to evaluating business resources and making collection decisions.Item Managing the changing climate of business collections(2018-11-08) Macy, Katharine V.; Howard, Heather A; Vaaler, Alyson S.Librarians that support business programs are weathering competing priorities in business collection management driven by requests from faculty and students, increasing resource costs with limited budgets, institutional and state requirements for accessibility, and the desire to support social justice. Librarians are walking a tight rope when managing collections, balancing changing collection budgets with the need to purchase data, databases, and other resources that are often proprietary in order to support the research and learning needs of their patrons. When making decisions to cut and add new databases, we must assess the value of a given resource considering a variety of quantitative metrics such as usage, cost/per use, cost/citation, and pricing history. In addition, qualitative criteria is increasingly important when making decisions. This criteria includes, but is not limited to, content coverage, accessibility, and whether a resource can be provided in a way that supports the principles of critical librarianship. The speakers will provide brief presentations on different aspects of collection management and assessment for business resources. Topics to be covered: • Determining the value of existing resources using metrics for holistic collection analysis and individual resource analysis, • Critical librarianship and the selection of new business resources, • Managing accessibility requirements with business resources. After the brief presentations provided by our speakers, the audience is invited to engage in a conversation about the topics presented as well as share how they are evaluating and making collection decisions. What are top priorities? What are sticking points with resources and/or vendors? This will be an opportunity for librarians and vendors to create a dialogue in regards to challenges and priorities that are being considered when making collection decisions.Item The Next Big Thing: Empowering Campus Entrepreneurs(The Charleston Conference, 2018-11-07) Braun, Amy; Howard, Heather A.; Macy, Katharine V.; Seeman, Corey; Vaaler, Alyson S.; Ward, Kristi"Entrepreneurial skills used to only be taught in the business school classroom. However, with global entrepreneurship on the rise, business innovation is no longer confined to traditional business programs. Generally, this is where business librarians can make valuable connections with the campus community. Having supported aspiring entrepreneurs for years, these librarians are now serving the larger campus community by teaching non-business majors to use specialized business-library resources. Please join us for a question and answer-style session with five librarians who will discuss how they support aspiring student entrepreneurs on their campuses, including what library resources meet known demand and how to market those resources beyond the business school. They will also share ways for the library to become a central hub for entrepreneurial development. Areas of discussion include: What role can the library play in supporting entrepreneurship across campus, specifically for non-business students, alumni, and community members? As the social entrepreneurship movement grows, how are libraries supporting those needs? What resources do students need to support their start-up ambitions? What role can librarians play in entrepreneurship competitions on their campuses?