Library Research & Innovative Practice Forum

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/16362

The Library Research & Innovative Practice Forum is an annual event in June featuring lightning talks, presentations, and poster sessions by UMD Libraries’ librarians and staff.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 123

Watergate: A Legacy
(2024-10-10) Lewis, Irene M.; Hughes-Watkins, Lae'l; Mayfield, Catherine Dayrit
Watergate: A Legacy is a presentation that looks into the political and cultural history of the Watergate scandal from the early 1970s in the United States and how it led the House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon in 1973. This presentation was given at the University of Maryland Libraires' Living Democracy Symposium held on October 10, 2024, at the College Park campus. The presentation examines how President Nixon and his administration undermined democracy, truth, and the rule of law through their activities to cover up the Watergate break-in and how public officials such as Maryland Representative Lawrence J. Hogan, Sr., other members of the House Judiciary Committee, members of the Senate Watergate Committee, the FBI, and many others worked hard to uphold justice in order to preserve democracy and the welfare of the country. Throughout the presentation, documents from Lawrence Joseph Hogan, Sr. papers held at the University of Maryland Archives are highlighted to illustrate the political and cultural impact this historic event had upon the American people during an era of great social and political change.
One simple trick project managers don't want you to know about to make projects easier: Project Governance
(2024-06-05) Benjamin Bradley
Plant Patent Portal Project
(2024-06-21) Garcia, Jose Anza; Shanker, Stella; Budhathoki, Milan
Our Plant Patent Portal (PPP) project is an interactive visualization of around 30,000 plant-related patents filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). We geocoded the original, aspatial data, converting it from a simple table with no spatial reference into a georeferenced, spatially aware layer of all of these patents. Each is symbolized as a point on a map based on where the inventor in question resides. To interactively visualize our data as well as get it online, we created an interactive dashboard using ArcGIS Experience Builder that combines maps with statistics and filtering options to promote data exploration and custom visualization. Our goal is twofold: create a tool for the general public to better understand the spatial distribution of plant patents granted by the USPTO, and to provide a much more intuitive and eye-catching way to present this dataset as opposed to the original tables.
Neglected, Found & Preserved: Architectural Drawings for the School of Architecture
(2024-06-06) Draper, Bryan; Elliott, Kirsten; Frank, Cindy; Trim, Alexandra
A set of 39 architectural drawings for the School of Architecture Building from 1969 was recovered from a faculty office. The drawings are diazotype prints and were bound along the left edge with strips of wood and bolts. Damage consisted of tears & losses to the paper support, fading of the image due to oxidation and extensive pressure-sensitive tape repairs that had deteriorated. This presentation discusses the history of these drawings, what damage they had sustained, how they were conserved and digitized, and their potential use in Architectural coursework now they are digitally accessible to UMD staff.
COVID19 Vaccine Mapper
(2024-06) Shanker, Stella; Phuyal, Sakar; Budhathoki, Milan
The COVID-19 Vaccine Mapper, developed by UMD Libraries' GIS and Data Service Center, maps out and highlights various aspects of COVID-19 vaccine development. Such aspects include the location of vaccine developers, the number of approved vaccines by country, and different vaccine delivery routes. Data is sourced from the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Dashboard and UNICEF’s COVID-19 Market Dashboard. The mapper, created with ArcGIS Experience Builder to join two ArcGIS dashboards, is divided into two pages: Vaccine Candidates and Vaccine Design. Vaccine Candidates provides a general outlook on the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, while Vaccine Design details the specifications of the vaccines (intramuscular vs. oral delivery, DNA vs. mRNA, etc.). By analyzing changes in COVID-19 vaccine development across space and time, we can define patterns and quantify trends in the COVID-19 vaccine industry. Above:
3D Tour Project: Modeling McKeldin's Map Collection
(2024-06) Garcia, Jose Anza; Shanker, Stella; Abban. John; Budhathoki, Milan
At McKeldin library, we are lucky to have one of the largest map collections of any college library in the world. With over 350,000 print maps, including government maps provided through the Federal Depository Library Program, the collection's size and complexity can make it a daunting task to explore and find materials. To tackle this problem, the 3D Tour Project seeks to create a 3D model of McKeldin's map collection, which is located in the west wing of the 4th floor. Using cutting edge GIS software such as ArcGIS Pro, we have created a sample model of a row of the library's cabinets (including individual drawers), each of which has detailed information about the maps contained within. The project will, in the future, be available online and thus accessible to any visitor who wishes to find materials within the collection. Eventually, this project will be expanded to model the entire map collection area and will have more advanced capabilities added through JavaScript programming, including an ability to search through categories of materials.
Analyzing and Identifying Patterns of Temperature and Crime in Chicago
(2024-06) Budhathoki, Milan; Murlidhar, Ashish; Hans, Abhimanyu; Benjamin, Alice; Harp, Ryan; Sharma, Ashish
This study investigates the relationship between temperature and crime rates in Chicago over a 20-year period, both at the city level and at the granular census tract level to examine spatial and temporal correlations across different neighborhoods. Crime and temperature data were analyzed at the census tract level to examine spatial and temporal correlations. The study tested the hypothesis that certain crimes increase with warmer temperatures while others rise with colder temperatures, and that higher temperatures predict higher crime overall. Urban climate data from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and public crime data were compared to identify census tracts sensitive to seasonal temperature changes. Different crime types were found to correlate with a heat vulnerability index based on socioeconomic and health metrics. The findings aim to help law enforcement, urban planners, and stakeholders locate areas of heat stress and develop interventions to reduce violence and structured racism in the highly crime-prone neighborhood, with a focus on understanding trends at the census tract level. This novel investigation of the overlooked links between climate, geography, and crime can inform strategies to mitigate urban heat impacts on public safety across different communities.
Pressing Matters in Book History: A Nineteenth-Century Printing Press as a Tool for Instruction and Outreach in SCUA
(2024-06-05) Philips, Rigby
Data Visualization: A New Way to See Historical Records in the AFL-CIO Archive
(2024-06-06) Eidson, Jennifer Gathings; Fettig, Rosemarie
In the outreach phase of the Advancing Workers’ Rights grant, a three-year project that digitized over 90,000 pages of records from the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department, creating social media and blog posts about the newly-available materials resulted in a quest for different ways to represent the materials in a unique, interesting, and user-friendly way. This search led us to explore data visualizations, for which a broad spectrum of graphical representations of information and data is possible. Two archivists discuss how a collaboration between student assistants and SCUA staff resulted in the creation of a series of data visualizations - maps, word clouds, and timeline graphs - that transformed the metadata from the digitized materials into unique and useful graphics. The graphics provide a new point of entry into the collection by using freely available tools like DataWrapper and Voyant, and the existing capabilities of Excel. The dataset originally exported from ArchivesSpace for use in Archelon was used for this outreach project and provides an example of how existing datasets can be reused to analyze collection materials in new ways. After applying these methods and tools to the materials selected for digitization, about 30% of the AFL-CIO Civil Rights Department records, we will share additional visualizations that comprise the complete records of the collection for further comparison and analysis of this approach.
Who wrote this?? And who is an author, anyway? AI authors in the catalog
(2024-06-05) Hovde, Sarah
Over the last decade or so, generative processes have increasingly captured public attention, from the fever dream images of early neural nets to the more recent proliferation of chatbots and language models. A 2021 post on the PCCLIST cataloging listserv about a book "co-authored" by a transformer language model led to an almost week-long discussion over whether the AI was truly an author or just a tool. In the intervening years, AI-created books have proliferated on online bookselling and book rating platforms, and sometimes even library collections. Just as reference and instruction librarians have risen to the challenge of teaching about LLMs and chatbots, catalogers should be prepared to encounter and describe resources created by computational processes. This lightning talk will quickly review the history and current state of computer-generated texts, and touch on the evolution of the concept of authorship in cataloging standards. It will then bring these historical threads together to consider how catalogers can represent how computer-generated texts with current cataloging tools and standards, and speculate on some alternative options for the future.
A Content Analysis to Inform Engineering LibGuide Overhaul
(2024-06-05) DiCiesare, Leah; Weiss, Sarah
LibGuides are a commonly used tool for aggregating library resources by topic, but they can vary widely. Before making a concerted effort to update and improve the LibGuides at our institution, we are conducting a content analysis to discover current trends in the composition of engineering LibGuides at other R1 institutions. In this lightning talk, we will detail the beginnings of this project: the reasoning for this study, a review of the literature, decisions about what LibGuides we are choosing to look at, and our proposed methodology.
Ph.Done! Library Employees and Doctoral Degrees
(2023-06-07) Gammons, Rachel W.; Inge-Carpenter, Lindsay; Chisholm-Edwards, Nneka
Three library employees who are enrolled part-time in doctoral degree programs discuss strategies for managing doctoral work with full-time employment.
Developing Support for Critical Citation Requirements for Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Research (Poster)
(2023) Sarah Weiss
ChatGPT and its Impact on Libraries
(2023-06-07) DiCiesare, Leah; Shaw, Benjamin; Kovisto, Joseph; Inge Carpenter, Lindsay; Asadi, Nima
Artificial Intelligence and its impact on education has been a prevalent topic, especially these last six months with the release of ChatGPT. Most of the conversation regarding ChatGPT has revolved around how it affects teaching and learning, but libraries are often left out of the conversation. This panel-workshop combination will explain what ChatGPT is and help us to know the correct terminology to use when discussing artificial intelligence and machine learning. We will also discuss how ChatGPT is affecting libraries and the work that we do on campus. If you have not gotten a chance to use ChatGPT yet, this is a great opportunity to do so, as we will workshop using ChatGPT and analyze its responses. After dabbling with ChatGPT, we will discuss how we, as librarians, can respond to this new technology. Artificial intelligence is only going to become more ubiquitous and it is our responsibility to understand it and have a plan for how to handle it in our work.
White House Correspondents Association Pool Reports Digital Collection
(2023-06-08) Cossard, Patricia Kosco; Howell, Chuck; Kanke, Timothy; Schumer, Mathew
In May 2023, the University of Maryland Libraries announced a major upgrade to the Pool Reports Digital Collection Website. This release marks a milestone in the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) project as it moves from a prototype pilot to a dynamic and active collection now available for the study and teaching of US Presidential reporting. The collection can be accessed at https://whpool.lib.umd.edu/. This new iteration is greatly enhanced with content about the White House Correspondents' Association. It includes profiles of past and present White House pool reporters; feature stories on a variety of related topics, complete news & press releases; resource lists of materials both within the UMD Libraries Collection; and important material beyond the Libraries' walls. This presentation provides an overview of the project timeline, milestones, content, and innovative digital tools being developed. As part of the Pool Reports Collection, the University Libraries are developing such a tool not only for this collection but for future digital collections. The UMD email processing and redaction tool, SCUTES (named for the protective scales on a turtle's shell), will auto-redact Personal Identification Information (PII) and reformat emails so that they are uniformly displayed in the collection regardless of the email service provided.
The University of Maryland Libraries WikiProject: Challenges and Delights
(2023-06-08) Hovde, Sarah; Doherty, Jennifer; Philips, Rigby; Guay, Beth
In June 2020, members of what is now the Cataloging & Metadata Services team launched a project to begin exploring Wikidata, a free and open knowledge base of structured data. Over the next two and a half years, almost two dozen participants created and edited 1,492 Wikidata items related to 1,294 collections from SCUA and SCPA. In the process, UMD's Wikidata editors got to know our special collections, explored a linked data interface, and made library resources more discoverable by users on the open web. This panel features four project participants, who will provide an introduction to the editing project and share some of the challenges, delights, and historical backstories they discovered while working on Wikidata.
McKeldin Library Map Collection: an interactive story
(2023-06-07) Xueting Zhang; James Nealis; Milan Budhathoki
The Map Collection located on the fourth floor of the McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland Libraries holds over 350,000 print maps and hundreds of atlases, the majority of maps that were published by U.S. government agencies and came to the libraries through the Federal Depository Library program. The collection includes USGS Topographic maps, Soil maps, CIA, Aeronautical maps, Forest Service maps, Historical maps, and National Geographic maps, among others. Coverage includes all U.S. states, most of the U.S. territories and possessions, and some areas outside of the United States. The library's GIS and Data Service Center pioneered an effort to build a story-telling application using ArcGIS StoryMaps that will promote the print map collection and atlases in an interactive manner making the collections more visible to the campus community and beyond. As far as we know, it is one of a kind storytelling application ever built in HigherEd libraries to showcase the diversity of print map collections in an immersive fashion to experience the collection under the patron’s fingertips. The McKeldin Map Collection StoryMaps includes one collection guide and 14 categories of maps. Each category contains an introduction to the map type, some sample map displays, locations at the map collection, and some additional resources
GIS and Data Services Workshop Analysis
(2023-06-07) Mohak Verma; Abhimanyu Hans; Sakar Phuyal; Milan Budhathoki
This study examines the demand for GIS and data science workshops at UMD Libraries by thoroughly analyzing the registration and feedback data collected from the previous two semesters. Following the introduction of user-centric data service in the summer of 2022, the GIS and Data Services center has been offering an array of workshops, such as qualitative data visualization with Tableau and NVivo, and the reintroduction of SAS. We employ this data to acquire a deeper understanding of the demographics of workshop participants and to assess the demand for each specific workshop. Consequently, we develop a dashboard that visualizes our findings, offering a comprehensive representation of user needs and preferences. The constructed dashboard displays participant demographics categorized by their highest level of education (undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D.), the school they are affiliated with, and various other similar classifications. These results will contribute to the planning and enhancement of future workshops to better address the requirements of the UMD community. In summary, this study emphasizes the significance of employing data to guide the design and implementation of library services, particularly in the context of emerging data science and GIS technologies.
Exploring the Seasonal Dynamics of Crime in Chicago
(2023-06-07) Abhimanyu Hans; Milan Budhathoki; Milan Budhathoki
This study investigates the relationship between crime and temperature in Chicago, a metropolitan area known for its high crime rates and diverse crime categories. The spatial unit of our analysis is a census tract level. We use spatial and temporal data from the past 20 years and examine how temperature affects crime trends on a census tract level. In our analysis, we study the hypothesis that certain types of crime, such as theft and assault, tend to occur more frequently during the warmer months, while others occur more frequently during the colder months. We also study if temperature is a significant predictor of crime rates in Chicago, with the neighborhoods with higher temperatures generally leading to higher crime rates.
Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater: Recreating a Valuable Feature of a Legacy System in a New Ticketing System
(2023-06-07) Seguin, Linda
In 2021, the USMAI library consortium replaced three disparate channels for receiving service requests with a single USMAI Service Desk, using Atlassian’s Jira Service Management (JSM) - Server software. One of the ticketing systems being replaced was the homegrown and aged AlephRx, which lacked some useful features typical of a modern ticketing system. However, AlephRx had one not-so-typical feature beloved by staff at USMAI libraries: all service requests, submitted by anyone, were visible to all logged-in users, creating a de facto knowledge base. This poster describes how systems librarians configured Jira Service Management - Server to preserve this functionality so valuable to our customers.

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