Library Research Round Table Chair's Report

American Library Association Library Research Round Table

July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020

Report from the Chair, Audrey Church, Ph.D., churchap@longwood.edu

2019-2020 Steering Committee Members: Audrey Church, Chair; Abby Phillips, Chair-Elect; Amanda Folk, Past-Chair; Christine Dulaney, Secretary-Treasurer; Ericka Patillo, Member-at-Large; Yin Zhang, Member-at-Large; Jennifer Joe, Round Table Councilor; Danielle Ponton, Staff Liaison

Major Activities for the Year:

The Library Research Round Table had a very busy and productive year in 2019-2020.

  • Library Research Seminar VII, chaired by Jen Sweeney, was held at the University of South Carolina, October 16-18, 2019.  The theme for LRSVII was Research Matters: Strengthening Values, Defining Practice.  More information about LRSVII can be found at https://sites.google.com/ucmo.edu/lrs-vii/home.
  • Membership Committee members Sylvia Hall-Ellis and Sara Jurek worked with staff liaison Danielle Ponton to revise and update messages that go out to new and renewing LRRT members as well as to those whose membership has lapsed.
  • Mentorship Committee Stephanie Alexander (Chair) and members Angela Branyon, Irene Klaic, and Carol Leibiger revised and updated the LRRT Mentorship Program. For more information visit the mentorship section of the LRRT website.
  • Communications Committee Members Jennifer Luetekemeyer, Lencia Beltran, and Ericka Patillo have worked tirelessly to update our LRRT web presence.  Work is ongoing.
  • Sincere thanks to our Nominating Committee Devin Savage (Chair), Tonya Carter, Julie Marie Frye, and Brooke Robertshaw who recruited excellent candidates for LRRT positions for the 2020 ballot.
  • The Jesse H. Shera Awards Committee had a very difficult task to select the recipients for the Dissertation and Published Research Awards.  Committee members Abby Adenjii, Nicole Carpenter, Doris Van Kampen-Breit, Carol Leibiger, Ayaba Logan, and Yin Zhang selected the following:
    • The 2020 recipients of the Distinguished Published Research Award are Rachel Ivy Clarke and Sayward Schoonmaker for their article, "Metadata for Diversity: Identification and Implications of Political Access Points for Diverse Library Resources," published in the September 2019 Journal of Documentation 76(1): 173-196.
    • The 2020 recipient of the Support for Dissertation Research Award is Bonnie Tulloch of the School of Information, University of British Columbia, for her dissertation "Do the Ends Justify the Memes? Exploring the Relationship between Youth, Internet Memes, and Digital Citizenship."  
  • Research Forum Committee members Giovanna Badia, Africa Hands, Jessica Kohout-Taylor and Travis Wagner had the difficult task of selecting papers to be presented at the LRRT Research Forum and Chair’s Program at the 2020 ALA Annual Conference.  Due to the pandemic and cancellation of ALA Annual, recipients presented brief information about their papers at the Chair’s Program at the ALA Virtual Event.  Papers selected included the following:
    • “Storytime as Context for Learning: Analysis of Emotional, Organizational, and Instructional Supports in Storytime Interactions ” by Maria Cahill, Mary Howard, and Soohyung Joo
    • “Do You See What I See? Comparing Community College Librarian and Student Perceptions of Student Information Literacy Needs” by Don Latham, Melissa Gross, and Heidi Julien
    • “Crossing Thresholds: Wikipedia Shaming and Facing Authority Dilemmas across Educational Levels” by Tara Tobin Cataldo, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Joyce Kasman Valenza, Amy G. Buhler, Ixchel M.Faniel, Rachael Elrod, Randy A. Graff, Samuel R. Putnam, Christopher Cyr, Brittany Brannon, and Erin M. Hood
    • “Faculty Views of Student Reading Behaviors: A Qualitative Investigation to Inform Library Practice” by Catherine Lantz, Annie Armstrong, and Glenda Insua
    • “Defining the Academic Library Middle Management Role” by Ericka Patillo
    • “Libraries in Society: Comparing International Metrics of Societal Progress to Library Usage Statistics” by Margaret Zimmerman
    • “Other Duties as Assigned: School Librarian Staffing Challenges in Rural Communities” by Ann Dutton Ewbank, John Chrastka, Mary Anne Hansen, Anne Kish, Tona Iwen, Dianne Mattila, Lisa Mecklenberg Jackson, Jodi Oberweiser, and Marla Unruh

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge our ALA staff liaison Danielle Ponton and thank her for all the support she has provided for Library Research Round Table activities.  It has been a privilege to serve as your chair this year.