Photo-elicitation: reflexivity on method,analysis, and graphic portraits

In this methodological discussion, the authors detail and reflect on the processes of using photo-elicitation interviewing as a way to align with positive qualitative methodologies, to gain access to participant beliefs and values, and to highlight participant voices through their choices of words and visuals. A review of the literature and an overview of the educational research experiences leading to the discussion are included. Next, the discoveries regarding what is methodologically new and/or valuable concerning this visual method is presented. In the final section, the authors reflexively contemplate aspects of visual methodological processes in an effort to address methodological crossroads of potential and tension including: (1) the potential of decontextualized photos, (2) photos as metaphors of meaning, (3) photos as representations of inherent meaning, (4) participant empowerment, and (5) graphic representation or graphic portraits.     

Alumni Perspectives on Career Preparation during a Postdoctoral Training Program: A Qualitative Study

Published evaluations of career preparation of alumni from long-standing postdoctoral fellowship programs in the biomedical sciences are limited and often focus on quantitative analysis of data from extant publicly available sources. Qualitative methods provide the opportunity to gather robust information about specific program elements from structured postdoctoral training programs and the influence of this training on subsequent career paths of alumni. In-depth interviews with a subset of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program (CPFP) alumni (n = 27), representing more than 25 years of the program’s history and multiple career sectors, were conducted to assess alumni reflections on the training environment and career preparation during their time in the CPFP. NVivo software was used to analyze data and identify major themes. Four main themes emerged from these interviews, including: the value of structured training curriculum, mentorship, transdisciplinary environment, and professional identity. Even when reflecting on training that occurred one to two decades earlier, alumni were able to highlight specific components of a structured postdoctoral training program as influencing their research and career trajectories. These results may have relevance for those interested in assessing how postdoctoral training can influence fellows throughout their careers and understanding salient features of structured programs.     

Breaking the Cycle: Future Faculty Begin Teaching with Learner-Centered Strategies after Professional Development

The availability of reliable evidence for teaching practices after professional development is limited across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, making the identification of professional development “best practices” and effective models for change difficult. We aimed to determine the extent to which postdoctoral fellows (i.e., future biology faculty) believed in and implemented evidence-based pedagogies after completion of a 2-yr professional development program, Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST IV). Postdocs (PDs) attended a 2-yr training program during which they completed self-report assessments of their beliefs about teaching and gains in pedagogical knowledge and experience, and they provided copies of class assessments and video recordings of their teaching. The PDs reported greater use of learner-centered compared with teacher-centered strategies. These data were consistent with the results of expert reviews of teaching videos. The majority of PDs (86%) received video ratings that documented active engagement of students and implementation of learner-centered classrooms. Despite practice of higher-level cognition in class sessions, the items used by the PDs on their assessments of learning focused on lower-level cognitive skills. We attributed the high success of the FIRST IV program to our focus on inexperienced teachers, an iterative process of teaching practice and reflection, and development of and teaching a full course.     

Volunteers in Special Libraries

The contributions of volunteers in special libraries have not been well-documented or researched. However, anecdotal evidence shows that volunteers have played a key role in the formation of many special libraries and continue to lend their skills and knowledge to these libraries. This column explores examples from the literature and gives a brief case study on the various ways philatelic libraries use volunteers. The scope of the column includes traditional unpaid volunteers, remote volunteers, crowdsourcing, internships, job training programs, and other voluntary or nontraditional work. Volunteer labor is far from free in terms of cost to the organization, but can provide benefits beyond simply unpaid labor including subject expertise, special skills, and community building. Special libraries looking to begin or expand volunteer programs are advised to study the lessons learned from other types of libraries and organizations with successful volunteer programs. Successfully managing volunteers requires careful planning and coordination just as managing paid staff does.     

Documentocentrism as a theoretical and methodological problem and methods for its solution

The problem of the emergence and development of documentocentrism as a theoretical and methodological approach that views a document as a basic principle is discussed.     

Beyond the Classroom: Fostering Soft Skills in Pre-Professional LIS Organizations

Are LIS graduates being adequately prepared to work in the information workplace? While students are absorbing valuable knowledge, library school curricula do not foster the essential soft skills students need to thrive in their post-graduate careers. However by being an active member of a graduate student organization, future LIS professionals can gain and hone effective soft skills, such as communication, initiative, curiosity, understanding, and the means to deal with mistakes, while adopting responsibilities that will all ultimately translate to success in the professional workplace, particularly in their first positions following graduation.     

Collaboration and Competition in Special Libraries

Librarianship has a long tradition of collaboration and cooperation between libraries, but the literature yields scant evidence of formal partnerships in practice in special libraries. This column explores the barriers to collaboration for special libraries, from organizational culture to legal constraints, as well as the potential benefits and how librarians can overcome the barriers to reap these benefits. Different types of collaboration, including among similar special libraries and between special libraries and other types of libraries and related organizations, as well as informal and formal cooperation, and short-term and long-term partnerships, are discussed. Collaboration and cooperation were part of the impetus to form professional associations. The column provides a brief history of professional library associations and their role in supporting library partnerships in the United States. The conclusion explores how the increasingly digital nature of information and library work affects collaborative library efforts and where the future of these efforts may lie, especially for special libraries.     

A Systematic Review of Financial Literacy as a Termed Concept: More Questions Than Answers

Financial literacy, as a concept by that name, has only been explored in library science literature for a little over a decade. The concept, and especially the role of libraries in furthering this literacy, is still evolving. This systematic literature review examines the current definition of financial literacy, why financial literacy matters, where the public has been accessing financial literacy education to date, the difficulties encountered, by libraries and others, in providing this education, and how these challenges might be addressed moving forward.     

Actions and Updates on the Standards and Best Practices Front

Four standards and best practices recently released or currently underway at the National Information Standards Organization were presented: Knowledge Bases and Related Tools, Presentation and Identification of E-Journals, Open Discovery Initiative, and Open Access Metadata Indicators. Basics outlining the creation work and deliverables were shared for each project. Applicability of these standards and best practices for different stakeholders of the information community were discussed.