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    Impact of library instruction tutorial format on student preference and performance in first-year chemistry
    (2023) Stieglitz, Tara; Whitson, Lindsey
    This research study investigates the effects of library instruction tutorial format (written versus video) on student preference and performance in chemistry education. The authors assessed the format of tutorials used to provide library instruction in an introductory chemistry course by observing 27 student participants as they took in instructions in either a video or a written format and then completed two chemistry information tasks. While participants expressed strong preferences for particular formats, neither the video tutorials nor the written instructions significantly improved task completion speed or performance. Rather, the authors determined that student preference alone is enough to justify the continued production of multiple versions of instructions for the same assignment.
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    Exploring the role of information literacy instruction in student co-creation of community-based research products
    (2023) Hall, Robyn
    Supported by institutional commitments to community engagement, undergraduate students at universities across North America are participating in community-based research projects. These experiential learning activities allow students to collaborate with community partners to address issues in their communities, often resulting in co-creating research products that seek to have a real-world impact. This article reports on ways that academic librarians can support students engaged in these activities, informed by interview data gathered from university administrators and faculty members from across Canada with expertise in conducting and overseeing students' participation in research connected to university–community partnerships. This growing area of scholarly activity in higher education provides instruction librarians with unique opportunities to teach students valuable information literacy skills tied to knowledge equity, representing a threshold concept that recognizes students' abilities to create new knowledge that strives to be accessible, inclusive, and done in an ethical manner that serves community interests.
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    Moving toward reconciliation: considerations in creating and re-evaluating an Indigenous resources policy
    (2022) Stift, Sandy; Garstad, Roxy
    Excerpt: Having agreed on the central importance of the Land Acknowledgement statement, an examination of our motivation, goals, and purpose was essential. Why even consider writing a separate policy? First, a unique and separate policy would bring to the forefront our commitment on this matter. It would highlight and remind us of the importance of collecting and curating materials by, for, and about Indigenous peoples in Canada. It was also one of the first MacEwan Library responses to a pivotal document produced by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) in 2017, the Truth and Reconciliation Report and Recommendations. It contains a series of actions Canadian libraries can take to support Indigenous communities and library users. The report contains ten recommendations which were considered in crafting an early version of the Indigenous Resources Collections Policy.
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    Geofacets: an advisor review
    (2023) Duffy, Jane
    Geofacets is a unique database for environmental researchers which draws, represents, organizes, and makes searchable information and data sets from various scientific resources through a single interface. Geofacets is both a research database and a comprehensive business solution that helps organizations maximize their time, energy, financial assets, and human resources. Geofacets draws its data from essential geoscience publications such as The Journal of Geochemical Exploration, Chemical Geology, The International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, The Journal of Structural Geology, The Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Sedimentary Geology, Geoscience Frontiers, Marine Geology, Global and Planetary Change, and Earth Science Reviews. Geofacets has positioned itself as the go-to resource for reliable information and data drawn from the interdisciplinary field of academic geoscience as well as from private industry.
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    Using self-assessment to extend sustainability competency development
    (2022) Munro, Tai; King, Martina
    One of the key benefits of developing sustainability competencies is that they enable students to pursue future work and study opportunities within sustainability despite diverse fields and challenges. However, if students do not also develop their ability to self-assess their own strengths and weaknesses, we risk creating a situation where students are unable to respond to new situations and evolving challenges. Self-assessment is key to enabling individuals to identify current and future needs for education and professional development once they leave the formal education system. Self-assessments are the most often used tool to assess competency development (Redman, Wiek, & Barth, 2021). This is a subject of criticism as opponents argue that students are not skilled in self-assessment. However, Boud and Falchikov (2007) argue that self-assessment is vital to supporting students in becoming life-long learners. Thus, developing self-assessment skills is a necessary complementary competency that we need to support students in developing. In this session, we’ll look at research from a community engaged learning course where students were asked not just to self-assess but to also reflect on how accurate their own self-assessments were and identify areas for future growth and opportunity. Then we’ll discuss and demonstrate how to incorporate similar opportunities to complement key sustainability competency development.
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    Building capacity and awareness for the UN Sustainable Development Goals through project-based and community-engaged pedagogies
    (2022) Munro, Tai; King, Martina
    Purpose - The key sustainability competencies are fundamental to sustainability transformations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of project-based and community-engaged pedagogies in supporting student development of all key sustainability competencies. Additionally, the study examines whether the UN SDGs provide an appropriate framework to support engagement with the breadth of sustainability topics and increase awareness and support of the goals within the community. Design - This case study triangulates scaled self-assessment, performance observation, and regular course work in an undergraduate interdisciplinary sustainability course to gain insights into how all key sustainability competencies can be developed through recommended pedagogies. Findings - Project-based and community-engaged pedagogies are supportive of key sustainability competencies development. The act of engaging with an interdisciplinary group towards achieving a common goal created effective learning opportunities for students. However, the project-based and community-engaged pedagogies cannot be completely separated from the context of the course. The use of the SDGs to guide community partner participation and project development was effective in increasing awareness of the goals among students and community partners. Implications - These findings support the use of project-based and community-engaged pedagogies to facilitate student development of key sustainability competencies. Originality - This study demonstrates that using the SDGs to guide community partner participation and project development is effective both in facilitating a wide range of projects from the identified areas of sustainability: environment, economic, social, and cultural, and in increasing awareness of the goals among students and community organizations.
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    Bursaries reimagined: addressing digital inequity through a library-led, university-wide laptop bursary program
    (2023) King, Martina; Whitson, Lindsey
    The rapid switch to online learning in early 2020 exacerbated problems students were already having with obtaining and maintaining up-to-date devices and a reliable internet connection. MacEwan University Library began offering 4-month term laptop loans at the beginning of the pandemic, but it was clear this was not fully meeting student needs. In response to conversations with faculty and students, the library secured funds from the university’s Student Technology Fee to launch a laptop bursary pilot in Winter 2022, which in turn expanded to a university-wide bursary in Fall 2022. This article discusses why an in-kind laptop bursary was the right approach at the right time in this setting; how this initiative contributes to equity and accessibility; and finally, perceptions of the value of this work, its fit within the scope of the library, and how the unique position of the library as a stu-dent-focused service and academic unit positioned it well to successfully offer this bursary. Challenges and opportunities for improvement are also discussed.
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    Journal Club: An innovative teaching practice to foster peer connection & enhance information literacy
    (2022) Croxen, Hanneke; Nelson, Jody; McKendrick-Calder, Lisa
    Information literacy (IL) involves a set of abilities essential for higher education learners, such as the ability to identify, critically evaluate, understand, and apply scholarly literature (ACRL, 2013, http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/nursing), yet studies often demonstrate that these IL skills are lacking and need further development (Bury, 2016; Saunders, 2012). Traditional methods of addressing this need center around stand-alone librarian-led IL sessions, which cannot provide the time or space needed to develop critical reading and reflection practices. Within our context of nursing this is a common challenge, one study found that 40% of second year nursing students have difficulty reading journal articles (Chaudoir et al., 2016), this despite IL being an essential skill for nursing practice (Mitchell & Pereira-Edwards, 2022). In an attempt to address learner needs a course instructor and librarian teamed up. Journal clubs, used in practice settings to maintain currency and promote EBP behavior (Wilson et al., 2015), have been used successfully in other health education contexts (Steenbeek, et al., 2009; Szucs, et al., 2017; Thompson, 2006). This application is referred to as evidence based practice (EBP), and is an essential component of nursing practice. Having activities for undergraduate nursing students that instill EBP aims to ensure that it will be incorporated into practice after graduation (Mitchell & Pereira-Edwards, 2022). Instead of the traditional librarian-led IL sessions, a first year nursing course was redesigned to utilize a guided journal club approach with an aim of enhancing the ability to seek, read, and interpret journal literature. Journal club activities took place over 8 weeks, alternating guided activities with brief IL lessons, and culminating in a group journal club assignment. Students were placed in small groups based on an area of practice they wanted to learn more about. Activities were scaffolded starting with introducing a research database and basic literature searching strategies. As students progressed through the journal club activities throughout the term, they were asked to find articles related to specific topics aligned with the course and their area of practice, critique and present their article to their group members, and then how to apply their interpretations. A survey was used to measure the impact of journal club on student IL self-efficacy, as measured through the validated Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale (ILSES) developed by Kurbanoglu et al. (2006). Initial findings support journal club as an effective modality to enhance students self-efficacy in specific areas of IL. Additionally, other valuable outcomes of this strategy were discovered, for example, students reported becoming more comfortable collaborating with peers and anecdotal reports showed students developed friendships with peers. This scaffolded journal club approach to discipline-specific IL learning would translate well to other contexts, particularly those which require a significant grounding in reading and understanding disciplinary research. The journal club activities are available at: https://tinyurl.com/JournalClubPosterISSOTL2022
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    Collective consciousness: wading into the discomfort of systemic discrimination
    (2022) Foster-Boucher, Caroline; Maykut, Colleen; Bremner, Sydney; Nelson, Jody
    Background: Racism in nursing towards Indigenous peoples has been evident and well documented (Allen, & Smylie, 2015; Browne, 2005; Vukic et al., 2012). Canadian schools of nursing have been called upon to incorporate teaching of colonial history and address systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples in response to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) findings (Baker, 2019; Blanchet Garneau et al., 2017, 2021; Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC], 2015). Methods: Our faculty of nursing has charged a team with forging a path forward in addressing the TRC Calls to Action. Our collective approach in pursuit of transformative nursing education for reconciliation aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (2015): Quality education. Results: Learning and pivoting to meet the needs of the professional development for faculty and staff is an iterative process. This team has discovered the transformative potential of collective learning in moving towards systemic change (Jakubec & Bourque Bearskin, 2020; TRC, 2015) to inform curricular decisions. Conclusion: As a team seeking ways to decolonize pedagogies and practice, we are collectively engaged in the learning necessary to confront and unsettle our own thinking. In doing this difficult yet vital work together, we hold one another accountable and support each other; we are developing a collective, anti-oppressive consciousness as we solidify our commitment to this ongoing work. By wading into collective discomfort as a group of learners and educators, we can foster true disruptive change (Blanchet Garneau et al., 2021; Kenney, 2008).
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    Scaffolding IL learning and EBP exploration in a semester-long journal club: impact on nursing student self-efficacy
    (2023) Nelson, Jody; Croxen, Hanneke; McKendrick-Calder, Lisa; Ha, Lam; Su, Wanhua
    Nursing students require essential information literacy (IL) skills: locate research articles, assess for quality, and apply to practice-based scenarios. Understanding research remains a common challenge, with one study finding 40% of 2nd year nursing students have difficulty reading journal articles, yet stand-alone IL workshops rarely allow time needed to develop critical reading, assessment, and reflection practices. Our discovery-based, scaffolded IL learning approach is modeled on the student journal club, which has been found to positively impact students’ application of research in clinical contexts. By embedding IL instruction strategically throughout a 1st year nursing course we hoped to enhance understanding, mindset, retention, and transferability of IL. This study sought to identify the impact of the journal club on nursing student IL self-efficacy, as measured through the validated Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale.
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    Support for community-based research at the heart of the university
    (2023-06-07) Hall, Robyn
    Libraries are often considered the heart of the university, supporting faculty, students, and staff carrying out teaching and research across disciplines. In recent years academic library services have evolved to support research dissemination practices that embrace principles of open science and knowledge democracy, aiming to make all forms of knowledge more accessible to the public through, for instance, online hosting platforms and providing expertise in copyright, data sharing, and knowledge mobilization. These services are, however, poorly communicated and underutilized when it comes to supporting community-based research projects and the non-traditional research outputs that frequently result from this work in collaboration with community partners. Drawing on findings from a recent study that included interviews with two-dozen academics and administrators engaged with community-based research across Canada, this session aims to help bridge the gap between the needs of community-based research projects, and common library services that support both traditional and non-traditional research creation, dissemination, archiving, and impact assessment. By the end of the session, participants will have increased awareness of ways that academic libraries can help support community-based research projects and ways that these supports might help advance their own work.
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    Opening-up digital platforms to community-based research
    (2023-05-31) Hall, Robyn
    Canadian universities are striving to build stronger foundations in community engagement. Community-based researchers are doing this foundational work, conducting research alongside community partners. This work often results in non-traditional research outputs, which advance knowledge but are not disseminated through conventional publishers. Examples include reports, policy briefs, photographic exhibits, and video productions. While this work serves to inform policy, advance social change, and by extension, contribute to teaching and learning, it is often not shared widely online in ways that encourage discoverability, and long-term reuse. Notably, it is frequently absent from digital platforms maintained by academic libraries used to distribute scholarly and creative works in open and sustainable ways such as institutional repositories and web-publishing applications like Omeka and Pressbooks, and it is rarely shared under flexible Creative Commons licenses. Reflecting on recent data collected through surveys and interviews with Canadian librarians and community-based researchers, this presentation will provide insight into why this work is so often not shared on open access platforms. Participants will be asked to consider challenges and opportunities present at their own institutions to support the dissemination of community-based research outputs, and ways to enhance university services to help advance its impact and reach.
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    Taking it to the streets: Teaching public scholarship strategies for community impact and student success
    (2023-05-18) Hall, Robyn
    Higher education’s expanding focus on community-based research is opening up new opportunities for students to develop and apply literacy skills that can have real world impact. This session will discuss several strategies librarians can use to teach students about creating and sharing research outputs intended for use by community partners and the broader public, with a focus on accessibility, knowledge equity and knowledge mobilization. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their own instruction and ways that they can expand their teaching to incorporate public scholarship strategies to benefit students creating and sharing works beyond the classroom.
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    Adventures in the study of scholarly communications
    (2023-05-02) Hall, Robyn; Hurrell, Christie; Hayman, Richard
    Scholarly communications practitioners are increasingly conducting important research into the practices, services, and programs that define and sustain their work. During this session, hear about the opportunities and challenges that presented themselves during three such projects recently undertaken by librarians who have lived to tell the tale of their scholarly endeavours to better understand scholarly communications in the Canadian context. Participants will also have an opportunity to discuss their own experiences conducting research relevant to scholarly communications, and identify research gaps attendees may be interested in engaging with moving forward. We anticipate that this session will equip attendees with practical skills for engaging in research activities, whether as part of a formal research leave, or in the course of their daily work.
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    The role of library publishing in making non-traditional research outputs count
    (2023-05-10) Hurrell, Christie; Hall, Robyn
    Researchers across disciplines are increasingly expected by institutions and funders to engage in knowledge mobilization activities and to openly share a variety of research outputs for the benefit of both researchers and knowledge users in a wide range of contexts. Researchers engaged in knowledge mobilization efforts often create non-traditional outputs that may not easily find a home with established scholarly publishers, who largely remain focused on traditional forms such as journal articles, monographs, and textbooks. As such, researchers may face barriers to openly disseminate, preserve, and track the impact of non-traditional outputs. Library publishing services are well-placed to support researchers producing non-traditional outputs such as reports, policy briefs, data sets, podcasts, digital multimedia projects, and infographics. Research repositories can typically host and preserve a wide variety of content and format types, make these works widely discoverable, and track downloads and other measures of impact. In addition, librarians and library publishing staff have expertise in copyright, research metrics, and digital preservation. By leveraging this infrastructure and expertise, libraries have the opportunity to more broadly disseminate non-traditional outputs, package them in a professional fashion, and assist researchers in more precisely articulating their impact. As such, exploring the ways in which libraries can support this growing area is important as publishing teams expand their scope to include a diverse range of research outputs. It may also help libraries support new research impact evaluation practices and bolster the knowledge mobilization goals of their institutions and researchers. This presentation will outline preliminary research results focused on researcher perspectives and library practices in Canada and the United Kingdom concerning the role and function of non-traditional research outputs. Attendees will be encouraged to consider ways that library publishing services, including but not limited to research repositories, can make these works more discoverable, visible, and measurable.
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    Unexplored territory: measuring self-efficacy, student knowledge and satisfaction in a blended health assessment in nursing course
    (2017) Berga, Keri-Ann; Vadnais, Elisha; Nelson, Jody; Johnston, Sharon; Mitchell, Agnes; Hu, Rui; Olaiya, Bo
    Notable gaps exist within the literature on Blended Learning (BL) in undergraduate nursing curricula (McCutcheon et al., 2015), and research has suggested that newly developed BL modules should be tested repeatedly to identify differences and facilitate the development of effective BL in nursing education (Hsu & Hsieh, 2011). This current research further explores BL in the undergraduate nursing context, through a comparison of BL and traditional face-to-face learning in health assessment education.
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    Arctic science and technology information system
    (2021) Duffy, Jane
    ASTIS offers over 83,000 records that provide freely available access to publications, including research and research projects, about Canada’s north. This database is a product of the Arctic Institute of North America at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada which also maintains subsidiary regional, subject, and initiative-based databases. The subsidiary databases are all housed within and accessible through the main ASTIS database. Examples of the smaller databases include: ArcticNet Publications Database, the Nunavik Bibliography, and the Northern Granular Resources Bibliographic Database. ASTIS offers the ability to browse through its access points, including its own thesauri, thus permitting users to select and use a variety of free-text and controlled search terms.
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    The importance of being uncomfortable and unfinished
    (2022) Foster-Boucher, Caroline; Nelson, Jody; Bremner, Sydney; Maykut, Colleen
    Our initial intention was to outline the structure of an entity, the Bear Healing Lodge, within the Faculty of Nursing at MacEwan. This structure was created out of the Truth and Reconciliation’s Calls to Action. However, as we engaged in critical discussions we realized that who we were becoming as persons, as we unpacked out privilege and power, was invaluable and informative to prepare us for authentic allyship and partnership. We realized that outcomes and endings were not the end goals, but being uncomfortable and unfinished were necessary for the creation of an ethical space for members to engage in decolonization of self. Authentic allyship and partnership must fundamentally be relational, create a brave space for vulnerability, and stimulate a shift in paradigms for multiple perspectives. We have humbly offered learning intentions, as solution-oriented perspectives, for others to learn which may lead to positive change.
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    Educating the next generation of open scholars: approaches, tools, and tactics
    (2019) Hall, Robyn
    Those who teach and work with students at the undergraduate and graduate level can play an important role in shaping the future of scholarly communications. Drawing students’ attention to the myriad of ways that research and scholarship can be shared openly online can provide valuable opportunities for students to disseminate their own work, engage with the work of others, and develop copyright literacy and improved academic writing and communication skills. Additionally, exposing students to the socioeconomic processes that shape access to knowledge can influence how these budding academics approach scholarly activity and where they choose to publish in their future careers.
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    MacEwan University Library's experiences with Pressbooks
    (2022-03-02) Hall, Robyn
    Brief presentation detailing MacEwan University Library's initial experiences using Pressbooks software to support the MacEwan Open Books open textbook hosting service.