University Libraries' Blog

Wichita State University has had a long relationship with Gordon Parks and the Gordon Parks Foundation. In the mid-1980’s, the Ulrich Museum of Art at WSU was the first to organize a major retrospective of Parks’ photography. He was awarded the Wichita State University President’s Medal in the spring of 1991.  “The President’s Medal is awarded to a person who is selected for humility and interest in others and especially for extraordinary and exemplary leadership through integrity, service to humanity and expertise in his or her field.”* On January 14, 1994, the award winning African-American photographer, musician, writer and film director was the guest of honor at a reception hosted by the Ulrich Museum. Mayor Elma Broadfoot declared that day, Gordon Parks Day, and awarded him with a key to the city. The Wichita Eagle put together a special publication regarding Parks’ work that ran earlier in the week on January 9.

Gordon Parks is best known as a photographer. He worked for Life magazine taking pictures featuring a wide variety of topics: fashion, Broadway, poverty, racial segregation, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Muhammad Ali, and Barbara Streisand, among others. In 1960, Parks won the American Society of Magazine Photographers’ Photographer of the Year award.

A story board used in the filming of The Learning Tree

Gordon Parks is also well-known for his work in film. He was the first to feature funk and soul music soundtracks and cast primarily black actors in his films. The Learning Tree (written, directed, produced, and scored by Parks) and Shaft, Parks’ best known film works, are included on the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Thanks to donors and University efforts, the Gordon Parks Papers came to Special Collections in 2008 and document his personal and professional life. Materials in the collection include draft and published copies of his work, photographs, correspondence, awards, exhibits, documented events, and more.

Several images from this collection were digitized; you can check them out at http://cdm15942.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15942coll8. Much more of the collection is still in its original format. Make an appointment or stop by Special Collections to see!

* Wichita State University Foundation Horizon Winter 2014

“The new computer codes may have made us illiterate again.”

- Vilem Flusser, Does Writing Have a Future? -

In a world quickly saturating with awareness of “fake news,” corporate and government surveillance, algorithm accidents, wirelessly “wired” homes and bodies, and the exponential growth of online-only information, access, data, and entertainment, the concept of digital literacy has become a worldwide priority and concern.  Governments, institutions, and personal experiences indicate that whatever can be digitized probably will be – from work to resources, learning to relationships to play.  In only a few decades, the digital has become our primary form of communication, principle access to information, and crucial form of access to employment, health, and social lives.

In other words, the human decision to “go digital” is changing us, and fast. 

I recently took part in a 4-week course entitled “Rethinking Digital Literacy” with educators, librarians, and professionals from all over the world.  You guessed it – it was “online-only”!  Reviewing national policies, institutional and educational initiatives, global security and privacy issues, and studies of human-computer interaction, we made considerable effort to comprehend what “literacy” means for a technologizing process that threads through all aspects of our lives.

Here are a few international statements:

• “Digital literacy is the interest, attitude, and ability of individuals to use digital technology and communication tools appropriately to access, manage, integrate, analyze and evaluate information, construct new knowledge, and create and communicate with others” (British Columbia, Ministry of Education, 2017).
• “Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, understand, evaluate, create and communicate digital information” (American Library Association, Digital Literacy Task Force, 2011).
• “Digital literacy has become much more than the ability to handle computers – just like traditional literacy and numeracy, it comprises a set of basic skills which include the use and production of digital media, information processing and retrieval, participation in social networks for creation and sharing of knowledge, and a wide range of professional computing skills” (UNESCO, Digital Literacy in Education, 2011).

These hefty, encompassing and abbreviated descriptions indicate that when we talk about literacy in a digital world – we are really addressing a significant range of literacies!  Doug Belshaw, an international consultant on new literacies, in his fantastic continuing study entitled What is Digital Literacy? (http://neverendingthesis.com) – suggests 8 Essential Elements comprising digital literacies

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As with the British Columbia definition – Belshaw’s elements point out that developing digital literacies are not only about skills and abilities to use digital technologies, but involve a slew of attitudes and dispositions as well. 

• Cultural: We need to pay attention to cultural context in which the media is produced or situated.
• Cognitive: We need to think differently when using digital technology – computational thinking built on branching logic requires new habits of mind to use effectively.
• Constructive: Utilizing digital resources makes copying or remixing incredibly easy – we need to know how and to what purposes content can be reused, remixed, and built upon.
• Communicative: The collaborative aspect of networked technology means all of our actions are communicative throughout the system.  We need to understand the norms and assumptions of the networks we use in order to use them for meaningful purposes.
• Confident: Given the nature of change, speed, and scale of digital technologies, it is crucial we are willing to fail, seek to solve problems, and manage our own learning.
• Creative: Digital technologies offer us a multitude of ways to do new things in new ways that are able to add value to our lives and the world.
• Critical: Information engaged through digital technologies can be restructured, hyperlinked, non-linear, visual, audial and more – we need to evaluate all forms of data as to their purposes, audience, credibility, accuracy, sources, and trustworthiness.
• Civic: We need to understand that participating in networked digital technologies involves a care and responsibility to society and ourselves, and opportunities to self-organize and act in beneficial ways.

I find it useful to consider digital literacies as an ongoing and unending process of developing abilities and knowledge necessary for meaningful participation in digital cultures.  These would include:

• Computer Literacy – understanding digital technologies (how they work and what they can do) as well as acquiring skills of operation (hardware, software, networks, programs, devices, etc). 
• Systems Literacy – comprehending systems of access (programming and politics of networked protocols) and issues around privacy, security, attribution and fair use.
• Media Literacy – interpreting design and influence of audio, visual, and interactive content presented in digital environments, and the inherent reproducibility and re-mix capacities of digital code.
• Critical Literacy – evaluating messages, meanings, and ideological influences of information communicated through digital technologies.
• Participatory Literacy – learning to appropriately utilize, communicate, and create effectively in cultural contexts mediated digitally.

However we conceive of them – the range of literacies necessary for us to safely and effectively participate in our increasingly digital world can be daunting!  Technologies change by the minute, and there looks to be no slowing down – how do we develop these literacies?

References

Belshaw, D. A. J. (2012). What is “digital literacy”? A Pragmatic investigation. Durham University, Durham, UK. Retrieved from : http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3446/

Digital Literacy Definition | ALA Connect. (2011). Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://connect.ala.org/node/181197

Education, M. of. (n.d.). Digital Literacy - Province of British Columbia. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/teaching-tools/digital-literacy

Flusser, V., & Poster, M. (2011). Does writing have a future? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

UNESCO IITE | E-library | Digital literacy in education. (2011). Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://iite.unesco.org/publications/3214688/

Do finals have you stressed? Find some relief at the University Libraries between your study sessions. Here are a few things you can do.

Engage in some media consumption: watch a streaming video using Swank Digital Campus accessible through the A-Z Databases List (http://libresources.wichita.edu/az.php), read a book from Leisure Reading  or check out a DVD from the SGA/SAC DVD collection located on Ablah Library’s first floor

Read the latest Sunflower! Issues available in the lobby while supplies last.

Browse Wichita Eagle, Kansas City Star, Topeka-Capital Journal, New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal! These newspapers arrive daily to our Reserve room.

Exercise: take a walk through the stacks, jog in place, do some planks.

Participate in Puzzles in Ablah Library! Play during all library hours through end of the day on Study Day, December 8. (Maybe longer, if the candy lasts.) Play jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, cards, and tabletop games such as Wonky, Choose One, chess, and Jenga at three stations on the main floor of Ablah Library. Take a braincation! 

Veg at the vend! Vending machines are located in the 24-hour study room. Cold coffee beverages, water and soda, cookies and chips will keep you fortified during study sessions.

Meditate on the amazing artifacts from the Anthropology Museum found throughout the main floor.

Take a few deep breaths. 

We’re rooting for you. Good luck with your finals!! 

The WSU Libraries will be holding our first ever Halloween ComicFest! The event will be held on October 28^th, 2017, from 1:00-4:00PM in the C-Space, located on the first floor of the Ablah Library. We will have a lot of fun activities for the event, like roundtable discussions, a kids craft table, costume contest, screening of the film Nosferatu, 3-D printing demonstrations, appearances by the 501st Legion, and of course, free comics for everyone!  

Earn tickets to spin the prize wheel! We'll have plenty of opportunities for attendees to get these tickets, including signing up for the costume contest at the registration table, attending roundtable sessions, and more. For every two cans of food you donate for the Shocker Food Locker, you get a ticket.

Do you have a great costume you want to show off? Participate in our costume contest to win prizes and be the envy of the crowd.

The event is free, open to the public, and intended for all ages.

For more information, please visit the Halloween ComicFest LibGuide: http://libresources.wichita.edu/comicfest.

In the meantime, come visit the Ablah Library and check out the Halloween ComicFest display on the first floor. 

If you have visited the Ablah Library in the last few weeks, you may have noticed two new displays on the first floor.  This year marks the third annual English 377 – Graphic Novels Final Projects Display in the main hallway of Ablah Library.  The students of English 377, along with their professor Dr. Darren Defrain, read from a wide range or graphic novels and other forms of sequential art, exploring social, cultural, and aesthetic themes along the way. Instead of writing a paper for their final project, students were asked to create a visual analysis of a graphic novel in the form of a poster.  This spring the class was taught online for the first time, so in addition to the option of making a poster, students were also given the opportunity to create a blog or other digital format presentation.  This year’s display features 13 physical posters and four digital multi-media projects.

Complementing the graphic novels displays is a display celebrating the first Official Wonder Woman Day.  Timed by DC Comics to coincide with the release of her solo movie on June 3^rd, 2017.  The display includes comics, graphic novels, and academic works from the collections about Princess Diana of Themyscira. There are also comics and graphic novels featuring other superwomen such as Batgirl, Lady Thor, Faith, Squirrel Girl, and more. 

Come by today to explore and learn more about this incredible form of art!

Let's start with a hypothetical situation. You're a graduate student or a faculty member waking up, grabbing your first cup of tea or coffee for the day, and you skim your email before you jump into the day's routine. You spot a call for articles from an unfamiliar journal. The editor has selected you based on your expertise in your particular field. An invited article? It's an appealing offer. The editor even mentions that it is an open access journal. How great is that? All you have to do is send in your manuscript and the listed fee at your earliest convenience. You've heard of colleagues going through the same motions to get their articles published in other open access journals, so no big deal. Right?

Wrong. You may have been targeted by a predatory journal.

What is a predatory journal? The most basic answer is that a "predatory journal is a journal that deceptively takes from an author."[1] To narrow this definition, I would add that predatory publishers are exploiting the open access movement by using the terminology in their messages to target authors.

A few emails you received from open access predatory journals have titles that sound official. However, it will be fairly obvious whether they are a predatory journal. For example, I have received emails from engineering, health sciences, and mathematics OA journals in the past. My expertise is in metadata and digital initiatives librarianship. Nowhere in my credentials is there evidence of having any experience in their purported fields, yet they mention that, after "careful consideration" of my credentials and research interests, my research would be the perfect fit for their publication. Yet…I have never published anything in their field whatsoever. In these cases, it is quite simple to disregard these requests and chuck them in the junk folder.

To many of you, this may not be news. However, new researchers may not have been warned about the dangers of publishing with a predatory journal. Here are a few tips that may save you the time, money, and the wasted effort of submitting your valuable work into such a journal.

1. Research the journal. This may be obvious, but it should be number one on your list of things to do when you get one of the aforementioned emails. Some of these journals have reputable looking sites, especially when you look at the editorial board listings. Sometimes a quick Google search can come up with reports from other researchers who have blogged about their own experiences. Don't forget the University Libraries has resources to assist you! Check the Ulrichsweb.com and Cabell's directories accessed through the A-Z Databases at http://libresources.wichita.edu/az.php.  Ulrichsweb.com lists and provides publisher information on more than 300,000 journals and where they are indexed.  The Cabell’s journal directories are divided into various academic disciplines and provide journal quality metrics for covered titles.

2. Be wary of email solicitations. While editors do occasionally send invitations for articles to potential authors, it is still wise to do your research. This is especially true if the title of the publication is generic, if you are unfamiliar with a title, or if the publication isn't even related to your field. Be sure to independently verify the submission process. There are unfortunately some disreputable "editors" who will use the title of a long established publication to obtain materials. This not only has the potential to damage the reputation of the original publication, but the author’s reputation as well.

3. Investigate the editorial list. It can be very convincing if they include faculty portraits, accurate titles, and contact information. Select a few members of the editorial team and email them. If the individual gets back to you claiming to know nothing of the journal, let alone if they are not on the editorial board, do not pursue this journal.
4. Get in touch with a librarian. We can be a great resource for you if you need help identifying predatory journals.

For predatory journals in the news, check out the following articles:

Predatory journal hires a fake editor: http://www.nature.com/news/predatory-journals-recruit-fake-editor-1.21662

A researcher, tired of the emails, uses Seinfeld as an inspiration in publishing with a predatory journal: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/49071/title/Opinion--Why-I-Published-in-a-Predatory-Journal/ and http://retractionwatch.com/2017/04/06/hello-newman-yet-another-sting-pranks-a-predatory-journal-seinfeld-style/

Beall's List of Predatory Publishers, a highly popular list of questionable journals, was unexpectedly shut down in January 2017, but an archived list exists here: https://clinicallibrarian.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers/.

“There is nothing permanent except change.”-Heraclitus

Change is definitely true for the University Libraries.  In recent years, improvements have been made to how the University Libraries provides access to scholarly materials, contributes to student learning, and generally supports the mission of the University. Access to new forms of commercially produced and locally created of scholarship has expanded, student study spaces have been updated, and new services introduced.  Change is occurring in the way scholarship is produced, shared, and archived. Feedback received during the University Libraries’ strategic planning process indicated faculty and students want to know more about the University Libraries’ service enhancements, as well as, changes and issues related to the scholarly communications landscape.  This blog will serve as a forum for these topics.  If you have a comment about a blog post or would like to suggest a topic, please contact us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WichitaStLiBlog

Sometimes something old is truly new again. Our inaugural blog entry harkens back to a traditional method of sharing information- the library display.  Just as stores still use display windows to draw in customers, libraries use display cases to promote specific collections or library events.  The update part comes when a digital version of the display is created and made available to our online patrons.  This month’s guest blog entry is from Assistant Professor and Metadata and Digital Initiatives Librarian, Lizzy Walker, creator of both the current Ablah Library first floor display and digital display celebrating Women in Horror Month.

-- Kathy Downes, Interim Dean of University Libraries

Now for our first entry----

What's Up with the WiHM University Libraries Display?

Lizzy Walker, Metadata and Digital Initiatives Librarian

Some of you may have noticed the Women in Horror Month (WiHM) display in the library. WiHM is an international, grassroots initiative that encourages participants and supporters to learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries. Whether they are on the screen, behind the scenes, or contributing in other artistic ways, it is clear that women love, appreciate, and contribute to the horror genre. This is an inclusive and positive movement open to everyone to participate. The founder, Hannah Forman, started this event eight years ago and it's been growing ever since. To celebrate the internationally recognized event, I developed the WiHM display for the University Libraries.

Do we really have horror genre materials in the Wichita State University Libraries?  Yes, we do!  There is academic significance to the annual WiHM event.  The topic of women in horror facilitates interdisciplinary research across subject areas and media. The purpose of this year's display is to highlight our different types of horror materials including graphic novels, young adult literature, adult literature, academic works, and film. Each of the items selected for the display represents advances women have contributed to the horror genre. 

It was difficult to decide what to include as the University Libraries has a plethora of resources representing women’s contributions to the horror genre. The materials in the display were selected for their significant academic, entertainment, and artistic value. Some noteworthy selections include:

v  Films of the New French Extremity: Visceral Horror and National Identity, one of the first books on the subject of the New French Extremity genre by Alexandra West

v  Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol J. Clover which examines gender in the slasher film

v  Monstress, Volume 1, a groundbreaking horror themed comic written by Marjorie Liu and illustrated by Sana Takeda

v  American Mary directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska who created their own horror production company, Twisted Twins Productions

This is only a few of the great items that are in the WiHM case. Check out the display on the first floor of the Ablah Library. While you're there, grab a WiHM8 button and a bookmark with either the URL or QR code for the WiHM research guide.

Happy Women in Horror Month!