Who do they think we are? Addressing library identity perception in the academy

CARL Conference | April 6, 2014
Margot Hanson
California Maritime
Academy
Annis Lee Adams
Golden Gate University
Who do they think we are?
Addressing library identity
perception in the academy

When you tell people on
a plane or at a dinner
party that you’re a
librarian, what reactions
do you hear?

Research question
What are academics
writing in online higher
education forums about
libraries and librarians
?

Value of Academic Libraries
Oakleaf, M. (2010). ACRL.
“When academic librarians learn about
their impact on users, they increase their
value by proactively delivering improved
services and resources to students...; to
faculty preparing publications...; to
administrators needing evidence to make
decisions. Indeed, the demonstration of
value is not about looking valuable; it’s
about being valuable.”

Ithaka
Housewright, R., Schonfeld, R., & Wulfson, K. (2013).
Ithaka S+R US Faculty Survey 2012.
Libraries = purchasing agent
$

Academics Online: Their Interests
and Foibles
Meyer, K. A., & McNeal, L. (2011). The Internet and
Higher Education.
“Like so many others, these
academics like to discuss
their jobs, their research, and
professional lives and are
especially interested in the
institutions where they
work.”

The Online Disinhibition Effect
Suler, J. (2004). CyberPsychology & Behavior.
“Everyday users on the Internet—
as well as clinicians and
researchers—have noted how
people say and do things in
cyberspace that they wouldn’t
ordinarily say and do in the face-
to-face world.”

Trolls just want to have fun
Buckels, E., Trapnell, P. and Paulhus, D. (2014)
Personality and Individual Differences
“Both studies revealed similar patterns
of relations between trolling and the
Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling
correlated positively with sadism,
psychopathy, and Machiavellianism,
using both enjoyment ratings and
identity scores…Thus cyber-trolling
appears to be an Internet manifestation
of everyday sadism.”

The Nasty Effect
Anderson, A. A. et al. (2013). Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication.
“Online communication and discussion of
new topics…has the potential to enrich public
deliberation. Nevertheless…online incivility
may impede this democratic goal.
…Impolite and incensed blog comments can
polarize online users based on value
predispositions utilized as heuristics when
processing the blog's information.”

Popular Science
“Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments”
by Suzanne LaBarre, Sept. 24, 2013
“Comments can be bad for science.
That's why, here at PopularScience.com,
we're shutting them off.
It wasn't a decision we made lightly...we are as
committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we
are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The
problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the
former, diminishing our ability to do the latter.”

Godwin’s Law
“As an online discussion
grows longer, the
probability of a
comparison involving
Nazis or Hitler
approaches 1”

What experiences
have you had?
Do you comment
online?

Content Analysis
“Content analysis is particularly
well suited … to answering the
classic question of
communications research; Who
says what, to whom, why, how,
and with what effect”
“The study of
recorded human
communications.”
Babbie, Earl. (2007). The practice of social research.
Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Publications Analyzed
● EBSCO serials list category for higher
education
● Online
● Comments
● Library articles

Criteria for Selecting Articles for
Analysis
● About academic libraries or librarians
● Have comments
● Published between 2011-2013
● Freely available articles

Search Each Publication
Search instructions for Inside Higher Ed:
● Use general search box [library]
● Narrow by tag <Libraries> (for 2012-2013)
● For 2011, manually look for library articles
● Narrow by year
● Narrow by content type <articles>
Search instruction for Chronicle of Higher Ed:
● Use general search box [library]
● Narrow by tag <Libraries> (for 2011 & 2012)
● For 2013, manually look for library articles
● Narrow by publication date <Less than 3 years>
● Narrow by content type <articles>

PRICE OF A BAD REVIEW: ACADEMIC PRESS SUES
LIBRARIAN
Lawsuit [10 articles]

ON MISTAKENLY SHREDDING A PRIZED
COLLECTION
Collection Development [9 articles]

OUT OF FEAR, COLLEGES LOCK BOOKS AND
IMAGES AWAY FROM SCHOLARS
Copyright [8 articles]

Digitization/Preservation [7 articles]
GIVING DIGITAL PRESERVATION A BACKBONE

CITATION BY CITATION, NEW MAPS CHART HOT
RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP’S HIDDEN TERRAIN
Scholarly Communication [7 articles]

LIBRARIANS OR BARISTAS?
Changing Library Mission/Future
of Libraries [6 articles]

AT LIBRARIES, QUIET MAKES A COMEBACK
Changing Library Space [6 articles]

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT: MARYMOUNT
ENLISTS STUDENTS TO MYSTERY SHOP
Responsiveness to Patron Needs
[6 articles]

RESEARCH LIBRARIES INCREASE SPENDING ON
DIGITAL MATERIALS
Budget [5 articles]

COLLEGE LIBRARIANS LOOK AT BETTER WAYS
TO MEASURE THE VALUE OF THEIR SERVICES
Assessment [4 articles]

A HOLE LOT OF BOOKS
Off-site Storage [4 articles]

Staffing [4 articles]
TO LIBRARY, OR NOT TO LIBRARY

Most commented articles
The Research Bust
Chronicle of Higher Ed
Academic Publisher Steps Up Efforts to Stop Piracy of
Its Online Products
Price of a Bad Review
Inside Higher Ed
In Win for Libraries Over Publishers, Supreme Court
Upholds Reselling of Foreign Books
Out of Fear, Colleges Lock Books and Images Away
From Scholars
144
72
56
48
44

Contacted the 2 main reporters on
libraries from each publication
1. How you do choose what library-related articles to
write? Do you have a library “beat”?
2. Do the comments on a story have any influence on
future publication decisions?
3. What trends or changes have you noticed in the
evolution of online commenting?

Commenting Platform
Comments
can be posted
anonymously
or signed

Commenting Policy
Both have commenting etiquette policies
Inside Higher Ed
➢ All comments reviewed by editor
➢ Unclear if moderated, but seems not. They rely
on readers to flag spam and abide by their
guidelines, etc.

It was hard not to get
defensive and talk back
to the comments!

303comments coded
79“irrelevant” comments

Changing Library Environment
[54 comments]
“P.D.A. in the Library” by Steve Kolowich. October 28, 2011. Inside Higher Ed.

Libraries/Librarians Need to…
[46 comments]
“College Librarians Look at Better Ways to Measure the Value of Their Services”
by Jennifer Howard. April 1, 2011. Chronicle of Higher Ed.

OUR Library is Doing it This Way…
[34 comments]
“Short on Space, Libraries Look to One Another for Solutions”
by Jennifer Howard. October 7, 2013. Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Library Cheerleader/Defender
[33 comments]
“To Library, or Not to Library” by David Moltz. January 13, 2011. Inside Higher Ed.

We are Doing the Best We Can
[30 comments]

Funding Pressures
[28 comments]
“Debate at N.Y. Public Library Raises Question: Can Off-Site Storage Work for Researchers?”

Patrons Don’t Know How to Use
the Library (Need for Info Literacy)
[26 comments]
“Assessing Campus Libraries” by Steve Kolowich. November 30, 2012. Inside Higher Ed.

Faculty/Students Need to…
[23 comments]

Questioning Library
Administrative Decisions
[23 comments]
“Library Limbo” by Elizabeth Murphy. September 27, 2011. Inside Higher Ed.

Library is Invisible/Underutilized
[22 comments]
“Scholars Increasingly Use Online Resources, Survey Finds, but They Value Traditional Formats Too”

“The Customer is Always Right” by Kevin Kiley. December 3, 2012. Inside Higher Ed.
Higher Education is going to Hell
in a Handbasket
[21 comments]

Snark
[20 comments]
“A Hole Lot of Books” by Kevin Kiley. May 18, 2011. Inside Higher Ed.

Fear of Digital Library Future/Fear
of Change [16 comments]

Libraries Should Never Discard
Anything!
[13 comments]
“Short on Space, Libraries Look to One Another for Solutions”
by Jennifer Howard. October 7, 2013. Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Google is Easier/Databases are
Awkward [9 comments]

Need to Demonstrate Value
(Assessment)
[8 comments]

Libraries are Unnecessary
[7 comments]
“Assessing Campus Libraries” by Steve Kolowich. November 30, 2012. Inside Higher Ed.

Possible Further Research
● Public libraries
● Longer period of time
● Do library-related articles get more or
fewer comments than other topics?

Thank You!
Any Questions?
slideshare.net/muumuulibrarian
slideshare.net/LibrariLee
boxofficebombshells.wordpress.com
lacqueredlibrarians.tumblr.com

Who do they think we are? Addressing library identity perception in the academy

More Related Content

What's hot (11)

Similar to Who do they think we are? Addressing library identity perception in the academy (20)

More from Annis Lee Adams (18)

Recently uploaded (20)

Who do they think we are? Addressing library identity perception in the academy