Biography: Emma Bekele is an MSIS student in the School of Information at the University of Texas. Her focus is on public librarianship and she is passionate about anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in the library, classroom, and beyond.
Project: To serve their entire community, libraries must be able to reach all members of a diverse population. The Pottsboro Library in rural northern Texas strives to expand their services throughout Grayson County to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). To support this DEI initiative, I will create fliers to advertise library books and services throughout the community and produce a DEI training guide for the library board based on research and best practices.
Biography: Parker Zimmerman is a graduate student in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. During his time at the iSchool, his studies have focused on both libraries and archives. He is most interested in how libraries and archives can use the digital space to increase the accessibility of collections for their users.
Project: For my capstone project, I am working with the New Jersey State Library to research state-wide econtent purchasing models, with a focus towards ebook purchasing. Specifically, I am surveying the current state of consortial/cooperative ebook purchasing models through the distribution of surveys, by consulting existing literature on consortial ebook purchasing, and by meeting with library staff across various states. The culmination of my project will be a white paper in which I will provide an overview of state-wide ebook purchasing models, present three case studies of specific purchasing models, and provide recommendations for how the state of New Jersey can provide equity of access to ebooks for all state residents through cooperative purchasing.
Biography: Tyler Roberge is a Master’s Student in the School of Information at the University of Texas studying library sciences and administration. With an interest in open accessibility and preservation, Tyler is looking to take his work into the academic or federal sectors to pursue public access, academic or government research, and/or library administration.
Project: My capstone project involves working with the Library Development and Networking Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to collect and create the content and guidelines for their upcoming Texas Workforce Development webpage to be publicly accessible from the Commission’s website. Working alongside Maria Freed, TSLAC’s Workforce Development Consultant, I’m conducting research and interviews with various individuals from state workforce agencies and library leaders to curate a holistic understanding of workforce development so the individual organizations may come together to better bolster the economic stability of communities across the state with libraries as a medium to accomplish this task. After this research is complete, we will turn to developing the content guidelines and preparing the Workforce Development webpage for launch, which will include our research and interviews, discuss how best we may go forward as a collective for the sake of Workforce Development, and serve as a hub for separate organizations to communicate their visions and opportunities for citizens across Texas both inside the library and in other like-minded organizations.
Biography: Rachel Poppen is a 2nd year MSIS candidate specializing in Collections Management and Preservation and Leadership, Management, and Governance. She is interested in leveraging modern technologies to ethically increase access to and preservation of special and rare collections, especially in rural communities.
Project: For her capstone project, Rachel will provide basic research on rural librarianship for the creation of an academic center for rural librarianship. The work includes research and literature reviews around rural librarianship, support for studies on rural librarians, credentialing, and finding models for this type of work/center at other institutions.
I’m happy to announce the 2023 cohort of Bowden Capstone Scholars. Bowden Capstone Scholars receive a stipend for their capstone projects, connection to real projects in great libraries, and group mentoring on they field.
Here are the scholars and the organization they’re working with:
Tyler Roberge, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Sarah James, Bowden Professor Rural Library Initiative
Parker Zimmerman, New Jersey State Library
Emma Bekele, Pottsboro Public Library
Melissa Deuber, Austin Community College Libraries
Rachel Poppen, Bowden Professor Rural Library Initiative
I’ll be posting more information on each scholar in other posts. As always, a big thank you to the family of Virginia and Charles Bowden for their generosity. The gift from Virginia and Charles is helping create strong connections between library science students and the profession.
As the new year starts, so does a new program – Bowden Fellows. These are folks from practice and academia working closely with the Bowden Professor to push forward an agenda of improving libraries and library science education.
Kimberly Silk, Principal Consultant for Brightsail Research and Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto. Kim works with GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) sector organizations to help them adopt evaluation practices, develop metrics, and use data analysis to measure progress toward strategic goals, improve operations and demonstrate outcomes. Kim’s formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Library Science from the University of Toronto. In 2020 she completed a Graduate Certificate in Evaluation from the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria.
This spring Kim will be working with the Texas State Library and Archives around the use of data for assessment and ongoing services, and teaching a course in library evaluation for the University of Texas at Austin’s iSchool.
Susan Gregurek, Library Director Jarrell Community Library and Resource Center. Susan is the Library Director for Jarrell Community Library and Resource Center in Jarrell, Texas. The library is a new small rural non-profit library in a community experiencing exponential growth. Her past experiences as a retired K-8 educator, staff development trainer, Board of Director of an educational non-profit, and worked for a major textbook company has helped to prepare her for her new challenges expanding library resources, programs and activities for the diverse community of Jarrell.
This spring Susan will be working with students in building and managing the Jarrell Community Library.
The following are some of the highlights of my work as the Bowden Professor.
The New Logo for the work of the Bowden Professorship
Invited Speakers with Students:
Angela Craig, Director Charleston County Public Library
Roosevelt Weeks, Director Austin Public Library
Dianne Connery, Pottsboro Public Library
John Chrastka, EveryLibrary
Bowden Capstone Scholars:
Chloe Santiago – framework for a grant-fundable program to train library leaders on power building and political and financial literacy specifically geared towards libraries who struggle to receive adequate funding, particularly those in low-income areas and historically BIPOC communities
Sarah Varenhorst – With San Diego State University’s health science librarian developed resources related to health science information, with a focus on vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jessica Gonzales – Worked with the Chattanooga Public Library in looking at ways to enhance its Summer Reading Programs and transform them into true early literacy efforts.
Emma Hetrick – Worked with the U.S. Embassy in Rome on the American Corner YouLab in Pistoia and the American Corner in Trieste. The goal of the project was to enhance the reading collections of both Corners, as well as create a better understanding of studying in the U.S.
Miriam Early – Worked with the Georgia Public Library Service to provide management, training, and support for GPLS’s DigEx program, which offers administrative support for public library-created digital exhibits.
Libraries Lead the New Normal:
Podcast hosted by Beth Patin (Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University), David Lankes (Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor, iSchool, University of Texas at Austin), and Mike Eisenberg (Dean/Professor Emeritus, iSchool, University of Washington); 19 Episodes and Counting
Assessing the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC):
Contracted with TSLAC to evaluate effectiveness of federal library funds. Helped to set the next five-year plan for supporting Texas libraries. Developing capacity within TSLAC to use data on library impact and advocacy for the state’s rural libraries. Developing voluntary certification for rural library staff to provide better service, and to defend the free expression of ideas.
Rural Library Development:
Working with rural libraries, such as Jarrell and Pottsboro, to improve library service to rural populations, and the nearly 2 million Texans with no library service.
Externally Funded Projects:
New Librarianship Symposia, IMLS and Others. Organizer. Convened an international series of symposia on the issues of post-neutrality librarianship; diversity, equity, and inclusion; cross-border connections; and a post-COVID new normal agenda. The New Librarianship Symposium Series was sponsored by the University of South Carolina, MIT Press, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, the U.S. Library of Congress, the British Library, KB National Library of the Netherlands, OCLC, URFIST de Bordeaux, Enssib, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, the American Indian Library Association, the University of Texas at Austin Bowden Folio, and Gigabit Libraries Network. $35,000
NEWCOMER Building a Network Community Centered Librarianship, Erasmus+ European Union. Project Consultant. Build a network of librarians from Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands to exchange best practice in community librarianship focused on inclusion and adult education. $137,798 (€117,250)
LADDERAn IMLS funded project to prepare technically oriented future-faculty to teach library science students topics such as AI and data science. Partners include Austin Public Library, University of Texas Libraries, and Navarro High School. Co-PIS, Soo Young Rieh, Ken Fleischmann, David Lankes. $623,501
Presentations:
“Less; Better.” State Librarian’s Program, New Jersey Library Association Annual Conference 2022. Atlantic City, NJ.
“Relationships Instead of Transaction.” X Congreso Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas. Online.
“New Librarianship and Defining the Role of Librarians in Today’s Communities.” National Library of Peru. Online
“Challenges of Academic Libraries in the Digital Landscape: Retaining Value by Retaining the Human Connection” National Library Day Keynote. Sharda University, Greater Noida, India.
“Come together: Librarians across borders for better communities.” Next Library Festival 2021. Online.
“New Librarianship and Our Better Angels.” #vBIB as an independent, digital conference – organized by the Professional Association Information Library (BIB) and TIB – Leibniz Information Center Technology and Natural Sciences and University Library. Online.
“A New Normal – Renaissance of the public Library.” Stelline Conference, Milan, Italy. Online.
“Libraries Leading the New Normal.” Computers in Libraries 2021. Online.
“Librarians Building the New Normal.” Brazilian Federation of Associations of Librarians, Information Scientists and Institutions Keynote. Via Video.
Looking to get some projects done and help students at the same time?
Library students in the Texas program are required to complete a Capstone project. These projects are 125 hours that constitute:
“a fieldwork-based project under the guidance of a field supervisor from the organization or department sponsoring the project. Students must produce a deliverable and undertake a single, large project (not several small ones) as one of the aims of a PEP is for students to learn how to manage a considerable piece of work and deal with obstacles and challenges that arise in long projects.”
I am funding students to work with libraries on projects. These could be anything from planning a new type of service, examining the effectiveness of programs, or developing professional development. The only constraints are that unlike internships, this about one big project, students must be able to do the work remotely, and the results must be shared.
I will be meeting with these students on a regular basis to provide support and mentoring. This should minimize the amount of time you or your staff need to supervise the students. If you are interested in capstone projects, I will need an abstract of the project and a point person. Also, beyond the paid scholars, I will happily connect students to interesting projects.
If you are interested in supporting Capstone projects, please let me know ([email protected]). As this work evolves, I would be very interested in your ideas on improving it for future years. Also, please feel to share this with colleagues that might be interested.
Biography: Melissa developed her passion for information science while volunteering with the Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections as an undergraduate student at the University of North Florida. While attending graduate school at the University of Texas’ School of Information, she is focusing on academic librarianship, particularly with small-medium universities and community colleges. After obtaining her MSIS, she will start…
Biography: Emma Bekele is an MSIS student in the School of Information at the University of Texas. Her focus is on public librarianship and she is passionate about anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in the library, classroom, and beyond. Project: To serve their entire community, libraries must be able to reach all members of a diverse population.…
Biography: Parker Zimmerman is a graduate student in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. During his time at the iSchool, his studies have focused on both libraries and archives. He is most interested in how libraries and archives can use the digital space to increase the accessibility of collections for their…
Great news! I am part of a team headed by Dr. Soo Young Rieh and including Dr. Ken Fleischmann that just got funded by IMLS. The main goal of the project is to create future iSchool faculty highly skilled in data science and AI with a strong connection to the library field.
One of the complaints I often here from librarians and library science students is that technically-oriented faculty don’t understand or have experience in librarianship. In this project, rather than “skilling up” library-oriented doc students, we’ll be “contexting-up” data folks with the context, values, and core strengths of librarianship. This is actually how I became attracted to libraries in my doctoral work.
The grant is also a response to the concerns of library directors that faculty and students don’t get first hand learning in libraries.
Nine iSchool doctoral students will be selected as LADDER Fellows over three years and will be funded by the IMLS. Each year, the three PIs and three doctoral students will collaborate with librarians, rotating across three library contexts: Austin Public Library, Navarro High School Library, and UT libraries. Another aspect of this grant is that LADDER Fellows will be asked to form a doctoral committee like other doctoral students will do. What’s unique here is that each committee member takes a specific mentoring role: a research mentor, a professional engagement mentor, and a teaching mentor. The collaborative mentoring is designed to provide a triangulated educational experience for doctoral students so they will grow to be strong researchers and capable educators who understand the importance of applying their knowledge to authentic library contexts.
I am sad to report that Dr. Virginia Bowden, librarian, philanthropist, art lover, has passed away. Virginia with her husband Charles funded the Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship that I am honored to currently hold.
Virginia was a true force in librarianship, particularly medical librarianship. I am linking to her full obituary to read about this remarkable woman: computer programer, analyst, librarian, director, PhD holder:
What I will remember is her passion for library science students and the field. She wanted her support to connect students to the incredible library community. She saw the power in peers and community. She wanted students to see libraries in action, yes, but also the connections that happened at library conferences. She urged me to serve librarians in the field and student alike. She urged me to show the students the power of libraries beyond collections and buildings.
I am, and always will be, indebted to her for her service and support. I only wish I had more time to talk with her, and plan with her, and share. I will do my best to live up to her legacy and generosity.
