Library Workers Experiencing or Observing Sexual Harassment in University of California Libraries is Commonplace and Commonly Unreported

A Review of: Barr-Walker, J., Hoffner, C., McMunn-Tetangco, E., & Mody, N. (2021). Sexual harassment at University of California Libraries: Understanding the experiences of library staff members. College & Research Libraries, 82(2), 237. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.82.2.237 Abstract Objective – To identify whether academic library workers at the University of California Libraries (UCL) system experienced or observed sexual harassment and to measure their reporting and disclosure behavior. Design – Anonymous online survey with open and closed-end questions. Setting – All UCL system campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Diego, and San Francisco). Subjects – All 1610 non-student employees working in UCL system were invited to participate, 579 (36%) responded. Methods – The authors engaged multiple stakeholder groups to refine and promote this census of UCL non-student workers. The survey was distributed via REDCap and remained open for six weeks of November to December 2018. All questions were optional. Certain demographic information was not collected because respondents might have been identified via deductive disclosure. The first author conducted descriptive statistical analysis and pairs of authors conducted thematic analysis. Main Results – More than half of respondents experienced or observed sexual harassment in the workplace; women were more likely to experience than observe and vice versa for men. Harassment was most likely to be exhibited by a coworker. Less than half of respondents felt that the UCL system administration considered the issue important. Nearly three out of every four respondents who had experienced harassment at work chose not to report or disclose; this did not vary significantly between women and men. Conclusion – Sexual harassment of library workers, often by other library workers, is widespread. Staff training and policies should incorporate the reality of gender harassment and commenting on a person's appearance—the two most common forms of harassment exhibited and observed.

The practical and the aspirational: Managing the student employee experience in library publishing efforts

Student employees are a critical component in the workforce of academic libraries. While more established library services have the benefit of attracting student employees specifically interested in their work, scholarly communication programs, and library publishing efforts in particular, have more difficulty describing and garnering interest in their work. This article describes the journey of the Digital Initiatives Unit at Utah State University Libraries as we navigated the particular trials that come with library publishing—specifically delving into the work of our institutional repository (IR) and the role of student employees in those efforts. The labor of our program is variable and largely project-based, which has presented a number of challenges related to our student employees: understanding the larger context of their work; retention of knowledge and skills alongside their ability to prioritize; and a struggle to transfer skills from one project to another. Addressing these problems involved more intentional gathering of student feedback, colleague brainstorming, and trial and error; through which process and results we are gaining a more developed understanding of the critical importance of the student experience. When student employees see their work as more than just a job, and recognize the skills they are learning, they come away with greater satisfaction and our unit benefits from improved outputs. Using what we have learned, we will be able to continue our efforts for a better student experience as well as creating future goals for our unit.

With Plenty of Elbow Room: Planning New and Upgraded Spaces for Library and Archives Conservation and Audiovisual Preservation

In 2018, the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries upgraded from a tired, twenty-year-old basement space to a new, purpose-built conservation lab for library and archives collections. The new conservation lab, which is housed in the special collections and archives library, quadrupled available lab space for its conservators and fleet of student employees. The move afforded Conservation space in the same library as the most vulnerable collection materials. In addition, rooms in the special collections and archives library were repurposed for audiovisual (AV) preservation, creating two new spaces for film and video workflows and upgrading an existing small audio room. This paper will discuss the conservation and preservation lab construction literature and will serve as a practical exemplar of the challenges and successes of the planning process, including lessons learned and unexpected benefits.

Retaining Opportunities, Completing Key Projects with Remote Student Employees During COVID-19

As the field of higher education began furloughs and layoffs to alleviate COVID-19 budget concerns, cultural heritage workers were directed to clearly demonstrate how their work contributes to institutions’ educational missions. Although physical library and archival collections were deemed inaccessible and less critical during the pandemic than ebooks, electronic journals, and digitized special collections, the two special collections projects considered in this case study demonstrate the value of continuing collections management work remotely and the relevance of student employees and other contingent workers in libraries and archives. The projects—one an inventory and bibliography of books acquired from a defunct religious library, and the other a review of digitized audio cassette tapes with little content information outside of the audio itself—enabled the retention of student workers facing few summer job opportunities and ineligibility for unemployment insurance, providing additional experience as well as compensation during an economic, as well as public health, crisis.

The WI+RE Way: A manifesto and a process for learner-led design

WI+RE (Writing Instruction + Research Education) is a learner-led team of undergraduate and graduate student employees at UCLA Library who apply values-driven design principles and grassroots instructional media production techniques to foster breakthroughs in research, reading, and writing for their fellow learners. The WI+RE Way (UCLA Library WI+RE, 2019c) is a collaboratively authored manifesto for learner-led design co-authored by WI+RE's learner-designers in collaboration with library staff.

Brief Assessment of Tobacco-Free Campus Policies Among University Residence Hall Employees

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of tobacco-free campus policies among residence life student employees. A survey was developed and administered to resident advisors yielding a total sample of 114 participants. Results showed differences between the tobacco-users’ and non-users’ age, tobacco-related health beliefs, and tobacco-free policy support. Tobacco users (47.6%) were also less likely than non-users (84.9%) to view tobacco use as a serious health risk (p<.001), as well as less likely to support a tobacco free campus (33.3% vs. 78.3%; p<.001). Residence life employees who use tobacco and those who do not use tobacco had different beliefs of effective enforcement strategies, which is important since this population is often part of the on-campus policy enforcement staff.

Development, implementation and importance of an undergraduate peer research consultant program at the University of North Dakota’s Chester Fritz Library

Purpose This paper aims to describe both the development of a peer research consultant program – using student assistants to staff the reference desk with minimal supervision while providing high-quality research assistance to their undergraduate peers, and the steps taken to create buy-in for the program from campus and librarians. Design/methodology/approach The authors provide a description of peer reference services and describe how a remodel of the library building facilitated a redesign of services. The paper covers the process of developing program guidelines, securing funding, expectations of peer research consultants, the training process and lessons learned from a medium-sized academic library. Findings The findings after the first year demonstrate that undergraduates are highly skilled at providing high-quality reference services when provided with quality training and support. In addition, undergraduate students are now seeking out peer researchers for assistance with research items such as topic formation, keyword development in databases and proper citations. Research limitations/implications No formal research or assessment of the program has been completed as of this time. Practical implications Well-trained Peer Research Consultants (PRCs) provide valued assistance to librarians in freshman composition classes, at the Ask Us reference desk, and to their peers. The program has allowed librarians to provide more outreach to their subject areas. Social implications Students prefer going to their peers for research assistance rather than a professional librarian when given the choice. The training the PRCs are provided by librarians provides credibility and trust, which encourages undergraduate students to approach PRCs for assistance. Originality/value This paper draws on multiple iterations of peer reference models to create an original program, involving training student employees to provide reference services at a paraprofessional level, as well as providing the methodology for other academic libraries to develop and launch a similar program.