CIRI Blog
Center for Information Research and Innovation (CIRI) Blog
iSchool faculty are contributors to the CIRI Blog, sharing their thoughts, ideas, and experiences regarding a wide range of topics. This blog is updated monthly and managed by CIRI Coordinator Dr. Lili Luo. For more on iSchool’s faculty and student research, please visit the CIRI web page.
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Research Methods Course Focusing on Technology
Published: December 4, 2019 by Jason Kaltenbacher
Beginning this current (Fall) 2019 semester, I started teaching a technology management special topics section of INFO 285: Applied Research Methods. This course is designed to support students who are interested in developing a comprehensive research proposal that relates to a technology interest/issue. Like the other research methods courses, students learn the fundamentals of social research design and how to produce a viable and independent research proposal.
Tribal Connectivity via TV Whitespace
Published: November 6, 2019 by Dr. Kristen R. Rebmann
In 2014, the Association of Tribal Archives, Museums and Libraries prepared a report, Digital Inclusion in Native Communities: The Role of Tribal Libraries, which discusses the challenges Tribal Libraries face in bringing basic broadband access to their citizens in addition to creating public spaces that provide Wi-Fi connections. The report illustrates how Tribal Libraries play a critical role as community anchor institutions (CAIs) in providing their community members with access to the internet (ATALM, 2014).
Data Mining for Service Planning and Management in Libraries
Published: October 3, 2019 by Dr. Geoffrey Liu
With operation being increasingly computerized and services becoming interactive online, libraries – like other business organizations – are accumulating huge piles of data. Such data include not only operational/circulation records and online transactions on web platform, but also textual information generated by library virtual communities and data collected through service programs. In this sense, the “Big Data” movement did not leave libraries out.
SJSU’s Student Research Journal: Supporting Teaching and Research at iSchool
Published: September 12, 2019 by Margaret Snyder, Editor-in-Chief, Student Research Journal
Want to be dialed-in to career trends, up your research game, and contribute to the library and information science (LIS) conversation? Look no further than the Student Research Journal (SRJ), San Jose State University’s (SJSU’s) only graduate student-run, open-access, double-blind, peer-reviewed academic journal featuring graduate student research and inviting contributions from prestigious researchers and movers and shakers in the LIS field. SRJ is about to celebrate their 10th birthday after an amazing 2018 milestone year eclipsing 100,000 downloads (read the issue here) and thrilled to introduce a new student resource blog to support SJSU MLIS and MARA students.
The General Data Protection Regulation and the “Right to be Forgotten”: A Primer for Information Professionals
Published: August 11, 2019 by Dr. Lisa Daulby
The European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect on May 25, 2018, is designed to protect the privacy rights and freedoms of individuals residing in the EU. GDPR is a comprehensive regulation encompassing 99 articles with provisions for data collection, consent, breaches, processing and security. GDPR was developed to reflect changes to personal information governance in an interconnected and virtually borderless world. Organizations that collect personal data about EU residents including customer and employee information must comply with
Searching for LIS Student Success at the SJSU iSchool
Published: June 20, 2019 by Dr. Anthony Bernier
“It’s not that people haven’t been inclusive. It’s just… a feeling I have in myself. You feel like an imposter. Like, especially when you go back into your family life.”
In Fall 2018, the American Library Association awarded Dr. Anthony Bernier a Diversity Research Grant (the committee’s top pick from among 30 proposals) to study the experience of the iSchool’s First Generation (FG) students. The project defined FG students as people coming from family backgrounds in which neither parent earned a professional degree.
Blockchain for Identity Management: Can a Case be made to Begin at Birth?
Published: May 2, 2019 by Dr. Pat Franks
Some of you may be familiar with blockchain technology (learn more about the basics of Blockchain from this CNN post and Dr. Franks’ presentation) because of Bitcoin, but it’s important to understand that Bitcoin was the first generation of blockchain technology with only one use case: financial tra
Exploring Tribal Library Opportunities and Challenges via Information Visualization
Published: April 4, 2019 by Dr. Michelle Chen
I met former iSchool student Tawa Ducheneaux (who is currently an archivist at Oglala Lakota College) in one of my Information Visualization classes, and the idea of using information visualization to further assist tribal library operations emerged from there. After the semester, Tawa approached me with an abundance of data from Oglala Lakota College Library and, with tremendous help from Tawa and her colleagues at Woksape Tipi Library and South Dakota State Library, we analyzed the data and eventually published a paper in Library Management [1]. In this blog post, I would like to share a little more about our research.
Exploring the Possibilities of Discourse Analysis for LIS Research
Published: March 5, 2019 by Dr. Deborah Hicks
I recently had the opportunity to speak with students enrolled in the iSchool’s Gateway PhD program about one of my favorite topics – discourse analysis. I thought I’d give a brief overview of my talk here to hopefully help others trying to understand the ins and outs of a great and useful methodological approach to LIS research.
Student Driven Inquiry: A Personal Research Journey
Published: February 5, 2019 by Dr. Shelly Buchanan
The first months of 2018 presented me with significant professional shifts when I joined the iSchool full-time faculty and shortly thereafter in March earned my Ph.D. for my dissertation titled, “The lived experience of middle school student engaged in student-driven inquiry: A phenomenological study.”
Cultural Memory and National Archives on the African Continent
Published: January 4, 2019 by Dr. Pat Franks
Introduction
Between September 2016 and November 2017, 46 students and alumni of the iSchool participated in a research project that resulted in the publication of the first ever International Directory of National Archives.
Value of Libraries: Measuring the Impact of CA Libraries
Published: November 18, 2018 by Dr. Cheryl Stenstrom
The California Library Services Board is funding and supporting a project called the Value of Libraries. Work on this project is being carried out by the California State Library under the direction of state library consultant, Dr. Natalie Cole, with assistance from iSchool faculty member, Dr. Cheryl Stenstrom and iSchool alumna, Rachel Hanson.
Resources for Planning Research and Writing
Published: October 14, 2018 by Dr. Michele A.L. Villagran
photo credit: Søren Mørk Petersen)
Over the summer before officially beginning as a new faculty, I had to prepare myself for the research and writing expectations of a tenure-track position. I spent at least one to two months seeking out resources beyond those I was aware of years ago when I was a doctoral student.
Health Literacy and Public Libraries
Published: September 5, 2018 by Dr. Lili Luo
Public libraries are uniquely positioned to play an active role in supporting health literacy enhancement in this nation. They provide a no-cost, convenient way to assist the public in navigating health information resources and fulfilling their health information needs. The Public Library Association (PLA)’s Deputy Director Scott G. Allen acknowledged that health literacy is a key topic for public libraries, as the majority of consumers struggle to make sense of the health information they encounter each day. He emphasized public libraries’ role in promoting health literacy, explaining that “consumers need help understanding what’s relevant to their health, what’s legitimate, and how marketing and sensational headlines might be drawing attention away from valid research findings”.
Strengthening Community Engagement and Resilience Efforts in Climate Change: Public Program Strategies
Published: February 8, 2018 by Dr. Chris Hagar
Climate change is a hot topic in current political agendas and seen as a global crisis. This semester, climate change and informal science learning practices will be discussion topic in INFO 281-13 “Crisis /Disaster Health Informatics” course. Students will discuss a paper “Strengthening Community Engagement and Resilience Efforts in Climate Change: Public Program Strategies” that I presented with Dr. Karen Brown (Professor, School of Information Studies, Dominican University, IL) at the Integrated Disaster Risk Management (IDRiM) Conference 2017 held in Reykjavik, Iceland (https://www.idrim2017.com). The paper describes the Public Libraries Advancing Community Engagement (PLACE) programs for adults which combine engaging readings, videos, and lively discussions about resiliency and adaptation in the face of climate change to encourage understanding and action.
Librarians Harness the Potential of Blockchain Technology—Get Involved in the Library 2.0 Conference and National Forum
Published: January 14, 2018 by Sue Alman
Blockchain technology. It’s more than a buzz word, and it’s time librarians explore how it can be used to enhance the role played by libraries within their communities. Get involved in the research while the implementation of the technology is still in the infancy stage.
European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) in Saint-Malo, France attracts participants from around the world
Published: October 30, 2017 by Virginia Tucker
The Fifth European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) was
held last month in Saint-Malo, France, with the theme of
workplace information literacy. It featured keynote speakers and
attracted participants from countries around the world. Two
doctoral candidates in the San Jose Gateway PhD program, Katia
Karadjova and Karen Kaufmann, gave presentations on their
doctoral research projects; Karadjova presented on two additional
topics during the conference. Photos: Karadjova in upper right;
Kaufmann in lower left. Proceedings are available from:
ecil2017.ilconf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/09/ECIL-2017-Book-of-abstracts.pdf
Staying Current with Disruptive Issues and Technologies: Beacons, Blockchain, Privacy, Wearables
Published: May 26, 2017 by Sue Alman
Urban or rural, public or private, large or small, libraries are living in a moment in which they are juxtaposed between their traditional role as a respected historical institution and their emerging role as a platform for progress. In an age where innovation occurs at the speed of thought, how can libraries embrace technology as well as employ it to build stronger communities? (Excerpt from The Aspen Institute – Libraries in the Exponential Age: Moving from the Edge of Innovation to the Center of Community, 2016.)
New Information Architecture course
Published: May 13, 2017 by Virginia Tucker
The School of Information is now offering an information architecture course that prepares students with the skills needed in the knowledge architecture and user-centered design professions. Students design and develop user-centered knowledge structures for the Web environment, and they create project documents developed around specific client requirements, covering the stages of planning, designing, prototyping, and informing stakeholders about a content-rich product. They learn best practices for designing information architecture products, and the course assignments provide real-world experience developing client deliverables from proposal stage through to concept, content inventory, user profiles, and final recommendations.
Learning to Learn: The Librarian’s Charge
Amidst unprecedented technological change, library staff are faced with an uncertain future but a landscaped filled with rich opportunities. One response has been a focus on continuing education and current awareness programs related to these shifts. Faced with these evolutionary transitions in research and learning, Library and Information Science professionals, are seeking new ways to quickly expand their own knowledge and expertise.