Approved Projects

All Approved Projects

In Progress

Completed

Connect: Advancing a community of learners

Framework for Evaluating Strategic Investments in Scholarly Communication

A plethora of opportunities exist for libraries to invest in scholarly communication and scholcomm-adjacent initiatives, beyond the traditional acquisition of content and technology. Opportunities include supporting efforts to make cultural heritage materials open access, investing in open infrastructure, becoming institutional members of organizations that work in these spaces, entering into transformative agreements with publishers, and more. However, the UConn Library lacks a framework for evaluating and deciding on opportunities for us to contribute to scholcomm organizations and initiatives. The evaluative framework, in the form of a short guiding document, will be posted on Confluence for the use of library staff who are making such evaluations and recommendations. Elements of the evaluative framework may be incorporated into the Library's Collection Development Policy

Lead: Michael Rodriguez (Feb-May 2022) Roxanne Peck (May 2022-)

Year Approved: 2022

Members:
Garrett McComas
Rebecca Parmer (Feb-May 2022)

Evolving Patterns of Undergraduate Research and Course Assignments

This study seeks to clarify the ways that undergraduate research assignments in non-W classes have evolved with the reduction or elimination of Graduate teaching assistants in recent years. The goal is to assess the impact of these changes on library use. The study will collect data on types and number of research paper and other research assignments requiring library use in non-W classes at UConn over a twenty year period. It will also track the reduction and elimination of Graduate Research assistantships over the same period, since, according to anecdotal evidence, this has resulted in a diminution of paper assignments due to the disappearance of the grading work force. It will consult the syllabi of departments that post them, the ref chat statistics from 2010 which are keyword searchable and may reveal which questions are related to research assignments, the RIO statistics, and will tabulate the numbers of W courses over the same period. Interviews with faculty will be conducted to augment the data with qualitative research. Along with a review of the related scholarly literature in the fields of Higher Education and Library and Information Science.

Lead: Michael Young

Year Approved: 2020

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility in Collections

This project seeks to form a working group to develop guiding principles for fostering inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) in UConn Library collections. The working group will develop a set of guiding principles for fostering inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in the Library’s collections, gathering information and feedback through research, conversation with Library staff, and consultation with campus partners. These principles will help inform future collecting activities, collection development policy revisions, and engagement with Library collections stakeholders, including faculty, students, researchers, and donors.

Leads:
Michael Rodriguez
Rhonda Kauffman
Rebecca Parmer

Year Approved: 2020

Members:
Phara Bayonne
John Cropp
Erika McNeil
Graham Stinnett
Merlita Taitague
Renee Walsh

Looking Back to Look Ahead: Examining The Impact of the Pandemic

This project aims to collate qualitative data on our library staff’s experience of the pandemic, specifically as it affected the functions/services we support for both internal and external stakeholders. We have already been creating comparative quantitative pictures of “before” and “during” the pandemic, but this project’s aim is to add staff reflection to those data pictures. The bulk of this work will be accomplished through a range of Conversations to be held (in person!) this fall at all UConn campuses, including the Health Services Library. Through these conversations, we hope to explore how the pandemic affected our services, what changes have or will become permanent, and how we envision this experience impacting library services in the less immediate future.

Lead: Susanna M. Cowan

Year Approved: 2021

Members:
Shelley Goldstein
Roslyn Grandy
Michelle Greene
Rhonda Kauffman

Scholarly Communications Environmental Scan

This project is aimed at undertaking an environmental scan of Scholarly Communication work accomplished mainly within the last 3-5 years. By interviewing members of the Scholarly Communication Coordinating Group, I plan to compile the goals and accomplishments of the SCCG, trace work done in OA and OER, and outline future projects. This project will result in an informal White Paper that will also include possible milestones for the future of work in Scholarly Communication at UConn, as well as a virtual presentation on the findings. After the initial focus on Scholarly Communication work at UConn, this project may expand to include an environmental scan of peer and aspirant institutions.

Lead:Garrett McComas

Year Approved: 2020

Members:
Rhonda Kauffman
Rebecca Parmer
Michael Rodriguez

Wellness Library Collection

The Wellness Library team will develop an ebook collection with titles on self-care topics, such as yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and health awareness.

Year Approved: 2020

Members:
Renee Walsh
Clara Nguyen
Hilary Kraus

Empower: Investing in ourselves and sharing our expertise

Liberated Zine Zone

Student Employee Appreciation Week Extravaganza!

Coffee Connections

Creating a Communications Culture

Video Services Pilot

Grant Writing, Support, and Locating Funding Opportunities Working Group

Engage: Evolving our role at UConn and beyond

Puerto Rican and Connecticut Historical Documents Transcription Project

The Puerto Rican and Connecticut Historical Documents Transcription Project working group would make some of the significant digital collections and important state documents held by the UConn Library and in the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA) more accessible for students, faculty, and researchers. It would compare the use of two approaches to make digitized hand-written documents more accessible by testing a crowd-sourced platform called FromThePage against Ocelus, a Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) automated process developed by the French company Teklia.

Lead: Jennifer Schaefer

Year Approved: 2023

Open to new members

Members:
Greg Colati
Michael Howser

2023 Black History Month Program Series

This project seeks to develop, plan, and facilitate a Black History Month outreach series on the theme of Black Resistance, established by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). This innovative project will engage members of the UConn and Connecticut communities through the application of Library staff expertise and interdisciplinary resources to advance cultural exchange and equitable learning.

Lead: Stephanie Birch

Year Approved: 2023

Members:
Phara Bayonne
Kelsey Brown
Jean Cardinale
Fyiansia Nsilo-Swai
Chay Reed
Jennifer Schaefer
Karen Tatarka

Evaluating and Re-envisioning Student Employment through an LTE Lens

This project collaborates with key partners to evaluate and design a framework to re-envision the student employment program at the UConn Library through the lens of UConn's Life Transformative Education initiative. This project will evaluate spaces for transformation and growth within our student employment programs, relying on shared knowledge, inquiry, and collaboration throughout the process. The project team is committed to developing new initiatives and supporting student success building upon existing and forging new campus relationships.

Leads: Melica Stinnett 2022-2023
Brooke Gemmel

Year Approved: 2022

Members:
Kelsey Brown
John Cropp
Brooke Gemmell
Jenny Gregory
Melica Stinnett
Lin Torres (Undergraduate Student)
Graduate student (tbd)

Building a Collection on Small Businesses in Connecticut

This project will gather, preserve and make accessible marketing and other original resources from active small businesses in Connecticut. The collection will include documents that illustrate the establishment and growth of small businesses based in Connecticut, to serve as examples of how modern small businesses in Connecticut originated and evolved, and to inform and educate future entrepreneurs and scholars on the successes, and even failures, of these endeavors. While the primary goal is to serve as a resource principally for students and faculty in UConn’s School of Business, the documents will be available in the Connecticut Digital Archive as a resource for anyone interested in Connecticut’s economic, manufacturing and cultural interests, and as a resource to draw small businesses to the state and to support their economic growth.

Lead: Edward Junhao Lim, Laura Smith

Year Approved: 2020

Open to new members

3D Data Acquisition, Visualization, and Archiving of Selected Lithics

This interdisciplinary, cross-campus working group is made up of faculty from the Anthropology Department, and staff from the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, Office of the State Archaeologist, and the UConn Library. Its goal is to run 10 - 20 stone artifacts from the State Museum's Caldwell Collection through a newly developed, highly refined 3D digitization workflow that will produce 3D assets for eventual online classroom use by members of the Anthropology Dept. and archaeology educators and scholars at large.

Lead: Michael J. Bennett

Year Approved: 2020

Members:
Rhonda Kauffman
Dr. Sarah P. Sportman
Dr. Jacqueline Veninger-Robert
Dr. Christian Tryon
Dr. Erin Kuprewicz