Research Libraries – DigitalKoans

“What’s in a Name? Exploring How Voluntary Library Data Literacy Workshop Titles and Descriptions Affect Learner Motivations to Enroll”

This study examined a large teaching and research-intensive university’s data library that offers several data literacy workshops. Although the data library’s voluntary data literacy workshops can be popular, with some workshops waitlisted, interest ebbs and flows. One way to improve the situation is to better market library workshops through effectively crafting workshop titles and descriptions that encourage engagement. Duke and Tucker (2007) state that it is important to market academic library services to increase service use and meet the needs of its users. Understanding marketing barriers is essential to improving workshop engagement.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2025.103045

“Evaluating AI Language Models for Reference Services: A Comparative Study of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot”

The descriptive statistics indicate that Google Gemini outperformed the other GenAI chatbots, by scoring high on “accuracy,” relevancy,” “friendliness” and “instruction” resulting in a higher mean score followed by public ChatGPT, commercial ChatGPT-4.0, and Microsoft Copilot.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10875301.2025.2478861

“Scaffolding AI Literacy: An Instructional Model for Academic Librarianship”

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes integral to academic, professional, and societal contexts, the demand for AI literacy in higher education is growing. Academic librarians, with their expertise in information literacy and critical pedagogy, are well-equipped to address this need. This article introduces a scaffolded model to advance AI literacy through progressive skill development across four tiers: foundational awareness, applied problem-solving, critical evaluation, and ethical advocacy. Each tier builds on the previous, fostering a comprehensive understanding of AI concepts, tools, and societal implications. Adapted from traditional information literacy workshops, this instructional model empowers students to navigate, critique, and responsibly engage with AI technologies. Tier 1 introduces basic AI concepts and tools. Tier 2 examines AI’s role in research and problem-solving, addressing practical applications and limitations. Tier 3 emphasizes the critical evaluation of AI-generated content and tools. Tier 4 focuses on ethical decision-making and advocacy, encouraging students to consider AI’s broader societal impacts. This article discusses the proposed model’s pedagogical design, details its application through workshop plans, and explores its implications for academic librarians’ roles in fostering AI literacy. By implementing this approach, librarians can equip students to become critical consumers of AI technologies.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2025.103041

Paywall: “Bridging the AI Gap: Comparative Analysis of AI Integration, Education, and Outreach in Academic Libraries”

This study examines AI integration, education, and outreach in academic libraries across Europe, North America (Canada and USA), Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. An environmental scan of 40 academic library websites from the Times Higher Education 10 highest-ranked libraries in each region was conducted. Results show that more than 50% of the libraries offered educational materials and 42.5% conducted educational activities, while only 12.5% included AI policies.

https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251325274

“Investing in the Future: A New Strategic Agreement for Diamond Open Access in Canada”

The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) and Érudit are proud to announce a new five-year agreement (2025–2029) for the Partnership for Open Access, with 57 participating libraries. . . .

Thanks to the ongoing engagement of participating libraries, the Partnership for Open Access (POA) provides financial support to 260 scholarly journals. Independent and diverse, these journals reflect the linguistic diversity and the impactful research conducted in Canada and beyond. They are also deeply rooted in their academic communities, as over 1,500 Canadian researchers publish their work in these journals annually, which are often based on Canadian university campuses. . . .

Through its 10+ years, the POA has established itself as a successful and sustainable model: it enables the distribution of over 2,000 articles per year without APCs, and has already helped 40 journals make the transition to open access.

https://tinyurl.com/yrwz2pkp

“Implementing and Learning from a Summer Research Data Management Training Program for Student Researchers”

Background

This study explores a library-led research data management (RDM) training program at a Canadian post-secondary institution that targeted students participating in summer research assistantships as well as their faculty supervisors. This paper describes the program in detail and shares findings from a student reflection assignment about practicing RDM for the first time.

Methods

The RDM training program included four requirements: attending an introductory RDM session; attending a data management plan (DMP) workshop; submitting a DMP for feedback; and completing a reflection assignment. Where consent was obtained (n=19), reflection assignments were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach.

Results

35 faculty supervisors registered 53 students to participate. 62.2% (n=33) of students completed all components of the program. Perceived benefits of completing a DMP included improved project planning, supporting best practices, potential for data reuse, and team communication. Perceived challenges included the inflexibility of DMPs, difficulty populating DMPs, demands on researchers’ time, and lack of long-term utility. 73.6% of students (n=14/19) reported that building a DMP helped them with their summer projects.

Conclusion

Through instruction, practical engagement, and reflection within the context of real-world research, the program supported participants in learning about and practicing RDM, and provided insights for academic librarians who wish to refine or develop training in their local contexts as they continue to navigate emerging expectations from funders and publishers.

https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v19i2.7753

“AI Literacy: A Guide For Academic Libraries”

By embracing AI literacy, libraries can lead efforts to demystify AI, offer targeted programs, and foster interdisciplinary collaborations to explore AI’s influence on research and learning. Through partnerships with faculty and campus technology units, librarians can integrate AI literacy into courses, create learning communities, and provide practical training on AI-driven tools. In doing so, academic libraries position ourselves as key players in shaping critical conversations about AI and guiding the next generation of scholars to engage thoughtfully and ethically with these technologies.

https://tinyurl.com/5hap9t7v

“Decoding Virtual Chats: NLP Insights Into Academic Library Services.”

This research applies a machine learning (ML) tool to the complete set of transcripts from a research university’s chat reference service (2017–2022) to examine evolving trends and patron needs in the library reference service. The study has two key objectives: 1) demonstrating ML’s effectiveness in the academic library setting, and 2) assessing the impact of COVID-19 on chat reference needs. A text classification model, trained on 1.5 % of the sample, achieves a 75 % accuracy match with human annotations

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2025.101344

“Streamlining Electronic Theses and Dissertations Processing Procedures at the University of Alabama Libraries”

This article provides a brief history of the ETD processing procedures at The University of Alabama from 2010 to 2021, a detailed description of the revised workflow, and a discussion of the improvements made. The workflow utilizes Python scripts and MarcEdit mapping and task files. All scripts and files are available in a GitHub repository for anyone to use and modify at https://github.com/bpclark2/UA_ETD.

https://doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2025.2467571

“Developing Practices for FAIR and Linked Data in Heritage Science”

Heritage Science has a lot to gain from the Open Science movement but faces major challenges due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, as a vast array of technological and scientific methods can be applied to any imaginable material. Historical and cultural contexts are as significant as the methods and material properties, which is something the scientific templates for research data management rarely take into account. While the FAIR data principles are a good foundation, they do not offer enough practical help to researchers facing increasing demands from funders and collaborators. In order to identify the issues and needs that arise “on the ground floor”, the staff at the Heritage Laboratory at the Swedish National Heritage Board took part in a series of workshops with case studies. The results were used to develop guides for good data practices and a list of recommended online vocabularies for standardised descriptions, necessary for findable and interoperable data. However, the project also identified areas where there is a lack of useful vocabularies and the consequences this could have for discoverability of heritage studies on materials from areas of the world that have historically been marginalised by Western culture. If Heritage Science as a global field of study is to reach its full potential this must be addressed.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01598-x

“Academic Databases and the Art of the Overcharge”

To help libraries avoid price discrimination, we gathered research library pricing for three popular academic databases: SciFinder from Chemical Abstract Services (a division of the American Chemical Society); Scopus from Elsevier; and Clarivate’s Web of Science. . . .

Using this data, we will examine a selection of pricing that demonstrates the range of prices paid by libraries and compare pricing across different institutional factors. We will conclude with tips on how to use pricing data in your library’s next negotiation.

https://tinyurl.com/ycyyyhuf

“AI Is Reigniting Decades-Old Questions Over Digital Rights, but Fair Use Prevails”

A publisher recently provided UC Berkeley’s Library with an elusive explanation for their AI ban on a subset of their licensed materials, claiming that they would “require new and different AI terms [that] would be significantly higher in price,” and that “individual client requests [would] need to be evaluated [to] determine whether or not they will be permitted.” However, when prompted to provide said new terms and price, the publisher was unable, or perhaps unwilling, to provide any additional information, noting that there is “no set pricing model or terms to share.” . . .

Charging extra to secure AI rights is likely to be cost-prohibitive due to increased financial burdens on libraries and institutions of higher education; if publishers are successful, it could lead to less academic output as researchers may have to independently foot the bill for the right to conduct research using AI.

https://tinyurl.com/42nmfwm2

“Applying the COUP Framework to a Library-Sourced eTextbook Adoption: A Mixed Methods Study”

A growing number of studies have reported that using open educational resources benefits students, but few studies have investigated academic impacts of adopting library-sourced eBooks as the course textbook. This mixed-methods study utilizes the Open Education Group’s COUP Framework (Cost, Outcomes, Usage, Perceptions), which has previously been used to investigate the impact of OER adoptions, and applies it to the adoption of a library-sourced eBook for a large university course. Results are based on analysis of qualitative data obtained from a student survey and focus group, as well as quantitative student grade point average and drop/fail rates. Findings show that this library-sourced eBook adoption significantly reduced costs for students with no statistically significant impact on student success metrics. Additionally, students reported that cost savings were appreciated and beneficial; they further described the course eBook as high quality, easy to find and use, and supportive of their performance in class. The authors conclude that the potential benefits to students justify the time, cost, and effort expended by the library to facilitate and support eBook adoptions.

https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.86.2.235

Paywall: “Digital Humanities in Us Academic Libraries: Case Studies”

This case study highlighted key areas of academic library DH practices including Space, Technology, Staff, Instruction and Collaboration. Practices in these areas were compared against each other and literature to comment on the current state of DH library practices and offer some recommendations for select areas.

https://doi.org/10.1108/DTS-03-2024-0040

“Datafication and Cultural Heritage Collections Data Infrastructures: Critical Perspectives on Documentation, Cataloguing and Data-sharing in Cultural Heritage Institutions”

The role of cultural heritage collections within the research ecosystem is rapidly changing. From often-passive primary source or reference point for humanities research, cultural heritage collections are now becoming integral part of large-scale interdisciplinary inquiries using computational-driven methods and tools. This new status for cultural heritage collections, in the ‘collections-as-data’ era, would not be possible without foundational work that was and is still going on ‘behind the scenes’ in cultural heritage institutions through cataloguing, documentation and curation of cultural heritage records. This article assesses the landscape for cultural heritage collections data infrastructure in the UK through an empirical and critical perspective, presenting insights on the infrastructure that cultural heritage organisations use to record and manage their collections, exploring the range of systems being used, the levels of complexity or ease at which collections data can be accessed, and the shape of interactions between software suppliers, cultural heritage organisations, and third-party partners. The paper goes on to include a critical analysis of the findings based on the sector’s approach to ‘3s’, that is standards, skill sets and scale, and how that applies to different cultural heritage organisations throughout the data lifecycle, from data creation, stewardship to sharing and re-using.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.277

“Exploring Academic Librarian Support of Open Pedagogy: A Survey of U.S. and Canadian Perspectives”

Case studies have demonstrated various ways in which academic librarians support open pedagogy, but little has been done to look at the bigger picture of what this support entails. This study surveyed 145 US and Canadian academic librarians about how comfortable they are with the concept of open pedagogy and whether they have supported it, along with what that support has looked like. The study also sought to understand what factors might affect this support, as well as how these librarians themselves could be better supported. Results show that a majority of respondents are at least somewhat comfortable with open pedagogy and have even supported it in at least one course. Respondents also expressed an interest in supporting open pedagogy in the future, but many expressed a desire for more resources and professional development.

https://tinyurl.com/3jrrdryw

“Building as They Come: Comparative Case Studies of Co-constructing Data Visualization Services with Academic Communities”

Academic libraries are well-situated to be strong supporters of democratizing and building knowledge and expertise in the use of data and data visualization as they cut across all of academia, regardless of discipline or department. Within the past decade, many academic libraries across North America have added data visualization services to their offerings. This has been done in several ways, from existing librarians with related portfolios like GIS or research data learning new skills to libraries creating new positions with the focus on the portfolio on data visualization. This chapter presents and compares two case studies of building data visualization services at York University Libraries and McMaster University Library.

https://hdl.handle.net/10315/42647

Clarivate Change Reactions: “Library Database Providers Clash Over Subscription Models”

Lo [Leo Lo, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries] predicted that “as libraries adjust to leasing-only arrangements, they are likely to become more selective, prioritizing high-demand or core resources while potentially overlooking materials in emerging fields, niche subject areas, or interdisciplinary research.” He also thought the change could strain the relationship between librarians and publishers, hasten a shift to open-access initiatives, or “drive libraries to negotiate more aggressively” for favorable licensing terms.

https://tinyurl.com/yahhr9kd

Paywall: “Gemini, & Copilot: Using Generative AI as a Tool for Information Literacy Instruction”

In this paper, the author demonstrates their experiences using generative AI to both assist in developing class activity ideas and in facilitating appropriate student use of generative AI in an information literacy course. Attention is given to emphasizing improper uses of generative AI, specifically within the research process, and how the tools may instead be used in an ethical and useful manner to assist with brainstorming research topics. . . The author describes the activities in detail, including how generative AI was used to assist in forming ideas for an interactive lesson to demonstrate various applications of the technology.

https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2025.2465416

Generative AI: “Do We Trust Ourselves? Is the Human the Weak Link?”

Generative artificial intelligence tools are becoming ubiquitous in applications across personal, professional and educational contexts. Similar to the rise of social media technologies, this means they are becoming an embedded part of people’s lives, and individuals are using these tools for a variety of benign purposes. This article examines how existing information literacy understandings will not work for artificial intelligence literacy, and provides an example of artificial intelligence searching, demonstrating its shortcomings. Present approaches may fall short of the answer required to navigate these new information tools, and this begs the question of what comes next. The current scope of information literacy and technology necessitates a multidisciplinary approach to solving the question of ‘what to do with artificial intelligence’ and arguably most impactfully requires one to acknowledge that what has worked may no longer suffice.

https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352251315845

“Charting Open Science Landscapes: A Systematized Review of US Academic Libraries’ Engagement in Open Research Practices”

Open Science aims to make research publicly accessible, transparent, and reusable, promoting collaboration across disciplines and fostering relationships among government, academia, industry, and society. International and regional reviews have explored the roles of academic libraries in promoting open science on both global and local scales. However, practices within U.S. academic libraries have not been examined comprehensively. This study addresses this gap. We employ a systematized literature review methodology to map U.S. academic library engagement in key areas of open science (e.g., open access, open data, open educational resources) and overlap analysis is used to assess shifts from discrete initiatives (e.g., open access, research data management) to holistic, integrated services that span the research lifecycle. Using a comprehensive search strategy, we identified 3,752 publications for inclusion in the study. We find that U.S. academic libraries are actively engaged in open science practices, with the most extensive involvement in open access and the provision of infrastructure to support open science. However, engagement in activities related to citizen science remains limited. Through thematic overlap analysis, we find that ~50% of publications report activities across two or more themes of open science, suggesting a possible shift toward more comprehensive practices. A key challenge reported by libraries is the need for continuous professional development to address technical skills gaps. As research needs and corresponding librarian responsibilities continue to evolve, maintaining librarian professional development opportunities will remain crucial for equipping librarians with the skills necessary to continue supporting and advancing open science initiatives.

https://osf.io/pv7k2/

“Research Data Management and Crowdsourcing Personal Histories”

Drawing on experiences of the University of Oxford’s Sustainable Digital Scholarship (SDS) service and the World War Two crowdsourcing project ‘Their Finest Hour’, this paper explores how institutional digital repositories (such as the SDS platform) can be successfully leveraged to publish and sustainably host crowdsourced (‘warm-data’) collections beyond their funding period.

The paper examines the challenges in applying FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles to a collection containing first-hand testimonies and digitised objects of significant sentimental value, addressing both practical and ethical considerations, including the management of copyright, handling of sensitive material, use of AI tools and adherence to good research data management practices, with limited resources.

Reflecting on the importance of a caring approach to data stewardship, the paper examines how the ethos of the Their Finest Hour project, and its commitment to honouring contributors and their families, led organically to an alignment with CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles, originally developed for Indigenous data governance. It also explores the potential for the wider application of CARE principles for crowdsourced collections such as the Their Finest Hour Online Archive, while acknowledging and respecting the origins of this framework.

Lastly, it offers some practical ‘lessons learned’ to help GLAM and Higher Education professionals working with crowdsourced collections and personal histories to navigate some of the research data management challenges that they may encounter, while also highlighting the importance of understanding FAIR and CARE principles and how they can be applied to these types of data collections.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.265

“Copyright and Licencing for Cultural Heritage Collections as Data”

Cultural Heritage (CH) institutions have been exploring innovative ways to publish digital collections to facilitate reuse, through initiatives like Collections as data and the International GLAM Labs Community. When making a digital collection available for computational use, it is crucial to have reusable and machine-readable open licences and copyright terms. While existing studies address copyright for digital collections, this study focuses specifically on the unique requirements of collections as data. This research highlights both the legal and technical aspects of copyright concerning collections as data. It discusses permissible uses of copyrighted collections, emphasising the need for interoperable, machine-readable licences and open licences. By reviewing current literature and examples, this study presents best practices and examples to help CH institutions better navigate copyright and licencing issues, ultimately enhancing their ability to convert their content into collections as data for computational research.

https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.263

“Staffing of Library Publishing Programs in the United States and Canada: A Data-Driven Analysis”

Introduction: Using the Library Publishing Coalition’s (LPC) Research Dataset, this paper focuses on the staffing of library publishing programs at colleges, universities, and consortia in the United States and Canada from 2014 to 2022.

Methods: In order to transform the data into a consistent format and write it into a single table as a commaseparated values (CSV) file, we created a program written in C# and executed on Windows 10. We narrowed the data set to focus on just library publishing programs from the United States and Canada, as well as to those that responded to the survey in early and later years. We also analyzed the data by enrollment and compared the staffing of library publishing programs to the staffing of academic libraries in general using the annual Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Library Trends and Statistics Annual Survey data.

Results: The average library publishing program relies largely on professional staff, has shown the most growth in paraprofessional staff, and has lost staff overall since 2019 while still showing growth overall since data collection began. Discussion: Compared with staffing of ACRL libraries in general, library publishing programs lost staff members at about a four-times higher rate from 2014 to 2021.

Conclusion: From 2014 to 2022, the number of library publishing staff did not grow at the same rate as the number of staff in libraries did as a whole. Also, although there are certainly general conclusions or trends, there are also opportunities for additional quantitative and qualitative research to be done in this area.

https://doi.org/10.31274/jlsc.17755

“Librarians at the Center of Peer Review Training: Increasing Collaboration among Scholarly Communication Stakeholders”

Librarians can organise peer review training, such as the six-part peer review series ‘Peer Review in Scholarly Journals: History, People, and Models’ delivered at UIUC, and build networks with key stakeholders to improve them.

Knowledge of peer review processes is still lacking for academic authors at all career levels.

Peer review training initiatives should be tailored to the information needs of researchers.

By partnering with other scholarly communication stakeholders, librarians are uniquely equipped to effectively deliver programs and services which can increase awareness of and interest in scholarly communication.

https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1657