Students in a Sociology course at a community college investigated social issues with their professor throughout the semester, selecting one to pursue in relation to prisoners. The students attended a library instruction session to locate academic articles related to research questions they developed. These curated sources were meant to be shared with future students who take the same class, including inmates. This unique class assignment required discussions about information privilege as it relates to the access to information inmates have in general, compared to students in academia as well as non-students. Open Access was compared to traditional publishing models and copyright issues were explored. Connections to the ACRL Framework, key takeaways from the experience, and future plans will be presented.
What happens when government web pages are hidden, moved, or deleted? In the age of “alternative facts” and the “politicization of science” one librarian was inspired by real world events to create an opportunity to dialogue about power dynamics and bias in a traditional one-shot instruction session. Environmental Science students critically analyzed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website and its treatment of climate change during the Trump, Obama, and Bush presidencies. The library “warm-up” activity was designed to raise awareness of data fragility and the long-term accessibility of government websites. As future science professionals, it’s important to think about how this impacts scientists and their work. Students were introduced to several tools including: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, End of Term Archive, and Data Refuge.
