LibGuides are a prevalent tool in libraries, and yet often their use as a tool is taken at face value. Used as pointers towards knowledge, LibGuides should be a crucial part of creating anti-racist library institutions. In understanding such tools and how to implement such criticality, the LibGuide Open Review Discussion Sessions provides a space across California State University Systems for practitioners to come together to discuss reference, publishing, critical digital pedagogy, critical race theory, and our work in libraries, working towards holding criticality to fight against the farce of neutrality within knowledge organizations.
To get started at a CSU or learn more about the process, please feel free to browse through the LORDS Toolkit: https://tinyurl.com/LORDSToolKit
Each LORDS session uses a rubric as a suggested framework for the discussion. Other resources can be found on the LibGuide from Cal Poly SLO about the project. For a more detailed discussion, resources, and an introduction to ideas about the project, please watch this Association of Southeastern Research Libraries webinar from August 2020:
LORDS Pilots will happen three to four times a year. As each pilot happens, we aim to fold in more institutions through outreach plans.
Thursday, December 3 2020 at 3pm: the first CSU wide LibGuide Open Review Discussion Session brought together fifteen people from four different institutions (CP San Luis Obispo, CP Pomona, San Francisco, Dominguez Hills). View the rubric and notes from the conversation.
Thursday, March 11 at 2:30pm: LORDS 2.0 will bring together more people from a new set of institutions (CP San Luis Obispo, Northridge, San Marcos, San Francisco, Dominguez Hills). View the rubric and notes from the conversation.
Thursday, August 5 at 1:00pm: Summer Session 2021, bringing together people from Chico, Cal State LA, Maritime, San Francisco, and Fullerton. View the rubric and notes from the conversation.
Jaime Ding (Unlicensed) Cal Poly SLO
Melissa Seelye (Unlicensed) San Fransisco State
Dana Ospina Dominguez Hills
Alyssa Loera (Unlicensed) Cal Poly Pomona
Please contact jaime (jpding@calpoly.edu) if you are interested in joining!
9/8: A Start
Future visions! Systems in place for an open peer review, bringing together members across multiple CSUs, with a continuous dialogue. Also holds accessibility, critical technology studies, critical race theory - a low cost, low barrier forum for everyone. This project maintains critical thinking and analysis.
Working group schedules meeting on every other Monday, 9am-10:30PM.
Goal to have one open review session by the end of the calendar year.
Decisions to be made: what outreach looks like, how many LibGuides, how to solicit LibGuides, length of time of sessions, how to provide context to facilitating the conversation - important to be transparent about the ways that people think, and how we credit/assess people and their input. Student input to be included at some point as well.
10/5: Outreach Plan
Confluence page (this!), with rubric and webinar to inform, as well as be transparent about the work
Open Access Week? Potential collaboration with other committees in the future, such as Student Success Committee, CSU reference coordinators, Online learning librarians, Academic Senate Committees?
COLD meeting in December
Outreach through Schol Com committee
10/19: Materials Needed
Local LibGuide sessions are being planned for the next two weeks at other campuses, and will adjust rubrics as necessary for each institution.
LibGuides are used differently, and the rubric is simply a jumping off point to structure similar discussions for each aspect of the library.
The four institutions that will participate in the pilot in December are Cal Poly Pomona, SFSU, Cal Poly SLO, and Dominguez Hills. LibGuide to be reviewed to be decided. 3 of the 4 institutions will have had their own local review session by the time the pilot happens, and the fourth will be a pilot of any interested individuals jumping in.
How to promote buy in across campuses if there is no committed facilitator? Is there a way to create a position/system? Potentially an ask from COLD during meeting in December.
How also to promote buy in across positions in a library? This project aims to be for any/everyone who works in a library, and there are professional/organizations obligations/restrictions. Such criticality also hopes to be and should be folded into the daily tasks/job descriptions/part of scholarship processes for faculty and staff across the CSUs. This needs hence to consider RTP processes, employee empowerment, and access to information and collaboration, with critical interest in anti-racist work.
Devising an FAQ about the project to be posted on here.
11/9: CSU Local Review Sessions
Updates from SF State and Dominguez Hills and Pomona:
Cal Poly Pomona: general interest, may attend other local sessions.
SF State: different format, maybe use google docs instead of google slides, working on accessibility, another session in the works soon. Success!
Dominguez Hills: systematized the rubrics to be a part of the LibGuide review and adapted for local reviews, will make a suite of Topic Guides to add more towards the LibGuides, looked at an array of language and picked out vendor language, expanded notion of publishing through discussions.
Meeting with COLD November 30.
Details for December 3: max 15 people in the review group, from four institutions.
11/16: Rubric Detailing
Further planning for the pilot session.
Detailing and collective creation for the CSU wide Rubric.
11/30: COLD Update
Collective update to COLD Meeting - https://calstate.atlassian.net/l/c/QHiz15x1
12/14: Planning for 2021
Planning dates for Jan/Feb/March 2021.
Outreach plan and CSU Toolkit for LibGuide project will be coming within those months.
1/15: Conversation with Leslie Kennedy
The LORDS Project will align with the Chancellor’s office’s standards in Accessibility, and respective interested parties will be trained by WebAIM.
2/5: CSUSM Conversation
Jaime facilitated a conversation at CSU San Marcos about the project, similar to ones she hosted at Dominguez Hills (8/7) and San Francisco State (9/16).
2/15: LORDS Pilot 2.0
Planning for the Pilot 2.0 Session, determining attending campuses and LibGuide to be reviewed (one of CP SLO’s, which has already been locally reviewed and will then be CSU-wide reviewed).
Released the LORDS Toolkit https://tinyurl.com/LORDSToolKit
3/15: Outreach and Sustainability
Continued folding in of CSUs in participation through personal outreach and networks.
Starting plan to ensure the sustainability of LORDS through appointed positions determined by Deans.