Monthly Archives: March 2016

Reference Librarianship & Justice: History, Practice & Praxis

Call for Proposals: 

Edited by Kate Adler, Ian Beilin & Eamon Tewell

Library Juice Press, Fall 2017

Reference work often receives short shrift in the contemporary discourse and practice of librarianship. Conversations that concern critical pedagogy, social justice, and theory tend to revolve around instruction or cataloging practice. Moreover, reference librarians and reference services themselves seem to be disappearing. Reference Librarianship & Justice: History, Practice & Praxis seeks to stake out a space and make a passionate case for reference work in a manner that is historically, socially and politically compelling. It will highlight the unique position of reference librarianship, a liminal and dialectical space, potentially distinct from the power dynamics of classroom instruction and singular in its mission and practice. At heart, reference is a conversation and partnership. The stakes are significant, not only because of the unique potential for social justice work but because of the risk that the profession is now overlooking reference’s central importance.

To read more and submit a proposal please visit our homepage at Library Juice Press.

Questions can be sent to ReferenceAndJusticeBook@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

Kate, Eamon & Ian

 

CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH GRANTS

GRANTS: DEADLINE: All proposals must be received no later than April 1, 2016.

The Dirksen Congressional Center invites applications for grants to fund research on congressional leadership and the U.S. Congress.  The Center, named for the late Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to the study of Congress.  Since 1978, the Congressional Research Grants program has invested more than $998,026 to support over 451 projects. Applications are accepted at any time, but the deadline is April 1 for the annual selections, which are announced in May.

The Center has allocated up to $50,000 in 2016 for grants with individual awards capped at $3,500.

The competition is open to individuals with a serious interest in studying Congress.  Political scientists, historians, biographers, scholars of public administration or American studies, and journalists are among those eligible.  The Center encourages graduate students who have successfully defended their dissertation prospectus to apply and awards a significant portion of the funds for dissertation research.  Applicants must be U.S. citizens who reside in the United States. 

The grants program does not fund undergraduate or pre-Ph.D. study.  Organizations are not eligible.  Research teams of two or more individuals are eligible.  No institutional overhead or indirect costs may be claimed against a Congressional Research Grant.

Download the Word document at Congressional Research Grant Application or at  http://www.dirksencenter.org/crg_app2016.doc and complete the required entries. You may send the application as a Word or pdf attachment to an e-mail directed to Frank Mackaman at fmackaman@dirksencenter.org. Please insert the following in the Subject Line:  “CRG Application [insert your surname].” Thank you.

The Congressional Research Grant Application contains the following elements: Applicant Information, Congressional Research Grant Project Description, Budget, Curriculum Vita, Reference Letter (for graduate students onlylength  not to exceed one page—additional pages will not be forwarded to the judges), and Overhead Waiver Letter.

The entire application when printed must NOT exceed ten pages. Applications may be single-spaced. Please use fonts no smaller than 10-point. This total does NOT include the reference letter (one additional page) or the Overhead Waiver Letter (one additional page).

 

All application materials must be received on or before April 1 of the current year. Grants will be announced in May.

 

Complete information about what kinds of research projects are eligible for consideration, what could a Congressional Research Grant pay for, application procedures, and how recipients are selected may be found at The Center’s Website: http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_grants_CRGs.htm. PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY. Frank Mackaman is the program officer – fmackaman@dirksencenter.org.

 

 

 

 

2016 Library Research Round Table Forums

ALA Annual Conference, Orlando

The Library Research Round Table (LRRT) will sponsor two Research Forums at the 2016 American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. The LRRT Forums are a set of programs featuring presentations of library and information science (LIS) research, in progress or completed, followed by discussion. The two sessions are described below:

LRRT Research Forum: Connecting Research and Practice

This session, for practitioners, researchers, and students, will feature three research papers that demonstrate how library and information science research can be used to improve library services. The three peer-reviewed papers will be selected by members of the Library Research Round Table (LRRT) as examples of quality research to improve library practice.

LRRT Research Forum: New Voices and Studies from the Field

This session, for practitioners, researchers, and students, will feature three graduate research papers selected as examples of studies that have the potential to make significant contributions to the library field. Audience members will learn about the latest research-in-progress from graduate students in library and information science programs.

LRRT welcomes papers emphasizing the problems, theories, methodologies, or significance of research findings for LIS. Topics can include, but are not limited to, user studies and user behavior, electronic services, service effectiveness, and organizational structure and personnel. Both completed research and research in progress will be considered. All researchers, including practitioners from all types of libraries, library school faculty and students, and other interested individuals, are encouraged to submit proposals. Both members and nonmembers of LRRT are invited and welcomed to submit proposals.

The Committee will utilize a “blind” review process to select a maximum of six papers, three for each of the two forums. The selected researchers are required to present their papers in person at the forums and to register for the conference. Criteria for selection are:

  1. Significance of the study to library and information science research
  2. Quality and creativity of the methodology
  3. Potential for research to fill a gap or to build on previous studies in LIS
  4. Previously published research or research accepted for publication by January, 2016 will not be considered.

Proposals are due by midnight Eastern on Friday, March 4, 2016. Notification of acceptance will be made by Monday, March 28.

The submission must consist of no more than two pages. On the first page, please list your name(s), title(s), institutional affiliation, and contact information (including your mailing address and email address). Also indicate which forum you are applying for:

  • Connecting Research and Practice
  • New Voices and Studies from the Field

The second page should NOT show your name or any personal information. Instead, it must include:

  1. The title of your project
  2. A 500-word abstract of the research project. The abstract must include a problem statement, problem significance, project objectives, methodology, and conclusions (or tentative conclusions for work in progress), and an indication of whether the research is in-progress or completed.

Please send submissions (via email or post) to:

Karen Gavigan, Ph.D.                                                                                                                                      

Associate Professor                                                                                                                                             

Library Research Round Table Chair-Elect                                                                                                          

School of Library and Information Science                                                                                                             

1501 Greene Street                                                                                                                                              

Columbia, South Carolina 29208                                                                                             kgavigan@mailbox.sc.edu                                                                                                                                  

(803) 777-1676

Exploring Online Student Engagement: Encouraging Active Learning at a Distance

Do you encourage active learning in your online instruction? Do you have strategies for promoting online student engagement? Would you like to share what you’ve learned with your colleagues?

The ACRL Distance Learning Section Instruction Committee would like to invite you to submit a proposal to be part of our Spring Online Panel Discussion where participants will share strategies and practical tips for engaging students and promoting active learning in online environments. The proposal from can be found here:

http://goo.gl/forms/qa5DnPP2aI

Proposals should not be more than 300 words in length and should include a very brief biographical sketch (additional 150 words or less) of the presenter(s), as well as links to any online materials that will be discussed in the presentation, if available. The Distance Learning Section Instruction Committee will review and select from the proposals submitted. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 9th, 2016.

Submit your proposal now! 

Northeast Chapter of PaLA: Library Wellness

The Northeast Chapter of PaLA is currently seeking proposals for our spring workshop on Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 at the University of Scranton. Our theme this year is Library Wellness. This workshop will serve as a “wellness check” to help libraries identify ways to better support and balance the many responsibilities and relationships of their librarians, staff members, patrons, and other stakeholders.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Interpersonal relationships (such as interacting/collaborating with coworkers, patrons, volunteers, community members, friends groups, board members, or other libraries/institutions)
  • Mental health (such as interacting with patrons with mental illness)
  • Financial health (such as library fundraising)
  • Time management (such as managing emails or productivity hacks)
  • Wellness programs in the library (such as yoga, meditation, or therapy dogs)

If you are interested in presenting on one of the above topics or another topic related to Library Wellness, then please consider submitting your proposal through the online Google Form: http://goo.gl/forms/JUDCdbz4fX

Deadline for submission is Friday, April 1, 2016. We are seeking approximately six presenters for 60-minute breakout session presentations and approximately eight presenters for 7-minute Pecha Kucha presentations (http://www.pechakucha.org/faq). If you wish to be considered for both types of presentations, please indicate that on the form. All proposals received by April 1, 2016 will be reviewed by the Northeast Chapter’s Board. We look forward to receiving your proposal!

 

Open Journal of Databases (OJDB)

(http://www.ronpub.com/OJDB)

Call for Papers

* About OJDB
Open Journal of Databases (OJDB), an open access online journal,
publishes original and creative research results on databases. OJDB
distributes its articles under the open access model. All articles of
OJDB are fully open access and online available to readers free of
charge. Accepted manuscripts are published online immediately.

OJDB aims to provide a forum for sharing and exchanging ideas,
experiences and research results among scientists and practitioners of
databases. OJDB publishes regular research papers, short communications,
reviews and visionary papers in all aspects of databases. There is no
restriction on the length of the papers.

* Scope
OJDB welcomes original, high-quality papers in all traditional and
emerging areas of database research.

* Editor-in-Chief:
Fabio Grandi, University of Bologna, Italy

* Editorial Board:
Mirian Halfeld Ferrari Alves, Universite d’Orleans, France
Jorge Bernardino, CISUC-Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Portugal
Barbara Catania, University of Genova, Italy
En Cheng,  University of Akron, USA
Eliseo Clementini, University of L’Aquila, Italy
Jerome Darmont, Universite de Lyon, France
Bipin C. Desai, Concordia University, Canada
Sven Groppe, University of Luebeck, Germany
Le Gruenwald, University of Oklahoma, USA
Giovanna Guerrini, Universita’ di Genova, Italy
Abdessamad Imine,  Lorraine University, France
Peiquan Jin, University of Science and Technology of China, China
Verena Kantere, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Carsten Kleiner, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover, Germany
Josep L. Larriba-Pey, DAMA-UPC, Barcelona, Spain
Daniel Lemire, Universite du Quebec, Canada
Jan Lindstroem, SkySQL, Finland
Chuan-Ming Liu, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan
Pericles Loucopoulos, Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Cedric du Mouza, Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, France
Eric Pardede, La Trobe University, Australia
Elaheh Pourabbas, National Research Council, Italy
Ismael Sanz, Universitat Jaume I, Spain
Klaus-Dieter Schewe, Software Competence Center Hagenberg (SCCH), Austria
Theodoros Tzouramanis, University of the Aegean, Greece
Marco Vieira, University of Coimbra, Portugal
John (Junhu) Wang, Griffith University, Australia
Yingwei Wang, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
* Submission
OJDB welcomes submissions at any time. The preparation and submission of
manuscripts should follow the author guidelines
http://www.ronpub.com/OJDB/author-guidelines.

South Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association: Technology in Libraries

The South Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association is hosting its Spring Workshop on Monday, May 16, 2016 focusing on Technology in Libraries. We would like to present topics associated with this theme, such as:

Social Media for Community Engagement

Uses of open source software

Digitization (picking of equipment, best practices, financing, metadata, copyright, etc.)

Mobile technology (wearable, use for roving reference, and apps for libraries)

Drones

RFID technology

Tech for non-techies

Any innovative used of technology in libraries

If you have experience in any of these areas, please consider submitting a proposal to speak at our workshop.  Presentations should be at least 60 minutes.

The workshop will be held at Harrisburg Area Community College in Harrisburg, PA.

To be considered, please submit your proposal by filling out our online form, or emailing the following information to ansnyder@pacollege.edu.  The deadline to submit is Thursday, March 31, 2016.

Your Name(s):

Your Library:

Your Email:

Title of Presentation:

Brief description of your proposed presentation:

Any Technology or Special Equipment needed:

Handbook of Research on Data Science for Effective Healthcare Practice and Administration

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Proposal Submission Deadline: March 31, 2016

A handbook edited by

Behrouz H. Far, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary

Amir Albadvi, Department of Industrial Engineering, Trabiat Modares University

Bijan Raahemi, Telfer school of Management, University of Ottawa

Elham A.Z. Noughabi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary

To be published by IGI Global in IGI Book Series: Advances in Healthcare Information Systems and Administration (AHISA)

Introduction

The volume of healthcare data generated by various sources in structured and semi-structured formats is increasing at a phenomenal rate. With this growth, there is an obvious need to develop efficient tools, skills, and techniques transforming this data into useful and actionable knowledge. As the healthcare data is characterized by its complexity, high volume and high dimensionality, there is a need for an extensive use of data science as an ideal way to manage and analyze this data. Making the choice to fully embrace data science would bring huge benefits to the healthcare management and leverage the healthcare system in all aspects.

Data Science is an interdisciplinary field of science and technology extracting knowledge and insights from data in various forms. Data science employs techniques and theories drawn from many fields within the broad areas of mathematics, statistics, information science, and computer science, including signal processing, probability models, machine learning, statistical learning, data mining, database, data engineering, pattern recognition and learning, visualization, predictive analytics, uncertainty modeling, data warehousing, data compression, computer programming, artificial intelligence, and high performance computing.

Data science utilizes data preparation, statistics, predictive modeling, machine learning and other methods and tools to investigate problems in various domains of healthcare. The benefits from data science have already been proven in healthcare industry. As examples, data science can help healthcare insurers detect fraud, healthcare organizations make customer relationship management decisions, physicians evaluate the effectiveness of treatments for specific diseases, physicians identify and control the chronic diseases and patients receive better and more affordable healthcare services. Data science can be also helpful to manage the problems associated with hospital services, patient recovery, resource planning, facility utilization, logistics, vaccination and emergency response.

It is obvious that the healthcare industry can reap significant benefits from data science in a wide aspect. Data science is becoming attractive to healthcare practitioners and researchers as it has the potential to provide valuable insights for effective healthcare decision-making in future years.

This handbook gives examples of how data science can be used in healthcare. In this Handbook, we survey different techniques and tools of data science and discuss how they can be implemented and applied in the domain of healthcare and medical decision-making. Some related tools and software programming frameworks are also proposed with applications and case studies.

Objective of the Handbook

This Handbook aims to capture a comprehensive view of the applications of data science in healthcare and medical decision making, while summarizing the corresponding computational tools and software programming frameworks. The Handbook will help the medical students and practitioners to understand the benefits of data science and to get a deep enough understanding to

  • Know when a particular method or tool would be useful and be able to identify managerial challenges and problems that require such an analysis,
  • Use and implement the technique,
  • Analyze the results and use the obtained knowledge

Despite the importance and value of data science to healthcare and medical decision-making, there is a lack of a comprehensive text in this area. Accordingly, this handbook provides a comprehensive framework and a practical road-map for medical students and practitioners on how to use data science methods and tools.

 Target Audience

This handbook is designed for those who would like to apply data science to improve healthcare and medical decision-making. Specifically, this handbook focuses on developing skills to use helpful techniques for improvement in the domain of healthcare. With this style, the handbook is suitable as a text for a course on data science in healthcare and medical decision making at the graduate level (master’s or doctorate’s), particularly for medical or health systems students. In addition, this handbook should be a valuable reference in using data science for self-study and a learning tool for healthcare and medical practitioners and managers in public health, medical research universities, governmental agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry. Data science, Computer science, information technology, mathematics and statistics students and researchers, who want to make the jump to healthcare research, can be also the target audience of this handbook.

Topics

Contributors are welcome to submit chapters on the various techniques in the areas of Mathematics, Statistical Analysis, Data Mining, and Machine Learning or other topics relevant to data science discussing one or more of the following aspects:

  • overview of the theoretical aspects of the techniques,
  • case studies and applications of the techniques in different areas of healthcare,
  • relevant tools and software programming frameworks

The recommended topics include, but are not limited to:

Mathematical Techniques, including  

  • Linear programming
  • Multi-objective programming
  • Queuing theory
  • Simulation modeling
  • Heuristics
  • Dynamic programing
  • Network theory
  • Complex network

Statistical Analysis Techniques, including :

  • Regression
  • Discriminant analysis
  • Principal component analysis

 

Data Mining and Machine Learning Techniques, including:

  • Data mining (classification, clustering, association rules discovery)
  • Text mining
  • Image processing and mining
  • Signal processing
  • Machine learning
  • Big data analytics

Other topics in Data Science, including:

  • Data engineering
  • Visualization
  • Predictive analytics
  • Data warehousing
  • Other topics can also be considered as long as they are relevant to the handbook theme.

Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit a 2-3 page chapter proposal explaining the general contents of the chapter before March 31, 2016. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by April 30, 2016. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by Jun 30, 2016. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for the Handbook.

All proposals and full chapters should be submitted through the E-Editorial DiscoveryTM online submission manager here: http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/2129

 

 

Publisher

The Handbook is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This handbook is anticipated to be released in 2017.

 

Important Dates

March 31, 2016:                           Proposal Submission Deadline

April 30, 2016:                            Notification of Acceptance

Jun 30, 2016:                                Full Chapter Submission

Aug 31, 2016:                                Review Results Returned

October 31, 2016:                       Final Chapter Submission

January 30, 2017:                       Final Deadline

 

Inquiries

Elham A.Z. Noughabi

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary

2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Tel.: +1 (403) 210 – 5479

E-mail: elham.akhondzadehnou@ucalgary.ca; e.akhondzadeh.n@gmail.com

NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication

WASHINGTON (February 29, 2016) — The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the two largest funders of humanities research in the United States, today announced a new joint fellowship opportunity to support high-quality “born digital” research in the humanities.

NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication seek to encourage scholars engaged in humanities research that requires digital formats and digital publication. Eligible projects must be conceived as digital because the nature of the research and the topics addressed demand presentation beyond traditional print publication. For example, for scholarship in fields like art history, musicology, or media studies, an interactive digital publication may allow the author to use multimedia to make arguments or illustrate critical points that would be otherwise difficult or impossible in traditional print formats.

“Over the past five decades NEH and the Mellon Foundation have supported some of the most important books in the humanities through our respective fellowship programs,” said NEH Chairman William D. Adams. “Today we are pleased to join together to help foster new forms of scholarship that take advantage of the unique possibilities afforded by digital tools, formats, and methods. Our hope is to spur innovation and experimentation that will take humanities research beyond the printed page.”

“Research in the humanities is increasingly exploring the richness of human expression in digital form and in audio and visual materials, which can be represented digitally but not so easily in print,” said Earl Lewis, Mellon Foundation president. “Scholars are also recognizing the need to reach audiences using new digital media. These digital publication fellowships are designed to help scholars in the humanities both convey the results of their research on new media and reach new audiences.”

NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication are designed for individual researchers and scholars and support continuous full-time work for a period of six to twelve months. Successful applicants receive a stipend of $4,200 per month, with a maximum stipend of $50,400 for a twelve-month period.

Application guidelines for NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication are available at neh.gov. The application deadline for the initial cycle of NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication is April 28.

The NEH-Mellon Fellowships for Digital Publication special opportunity is part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ agency-wide initiative The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, which seeks to demonstrate and enhance the role of the humanities and humanities scholarship in public life.

Trespassing on Boundaries with Women’s Archives (MLA 2017)

J. Ashley Foster (of Haverford College) and Margaret Galvan (of The
Graduate Center, CUNY) are proposing a special session on women’s archives
at next year’s MLA. Please consider submitting and be in touch with any
questions.

Deadline for 250-word abstracts and bios: March 15. Send to:
ashleyfoster@icloud.com and mgalvan@gradcenter.cuny.edu

CFP: Trespassing on Boundaries with Women’s Archives (MLA 2017)

Call for Papers for a proposed special session at the Modern Language
Association (MLA) Annual Convention, Jan. 5-8, 2017, in Philadelphia, PA.

Over the past decade and a half, a diverse array of materials related to
women and women’s movements have inspired the creation of new archival
collections and archives in university, grassroots, and digital spaces—from
the founding of the Feminist Theory Collection at Brown University (2003)
to the launch of Chicana Por Mi Raza (2009) and Independent Voices (2013)
in digital spaces. In The Archival Turn in Feminism (2013), Kate Eichhorn
explores how the rapid collection of third-wave feminist materials
highlights a changing notion of the boundaries and possibilities of
archives: “For a younger generation of feminists, the archive is not
necessarily either a destination or an impenetrable barrier to be breached,
but rather a site and practice integral to knowledge making, cultural
production, and activism” (3). How do women’s archives—both long-standing
and new—trespass on archival boundaries? What role do archivists and
researchers play in this process?

This MLA special session seeks to consider the multifaceted ways in which
scholars blur, bust, expand, or trespass on boundaries while working in and
recovering materials from women’s archives. We will open a conversation
exploring the numerous modalities of radicalized archival endeavors,
theorizing how gender, women’s studies, and feminism play a role in the
archival space and the ensuing research.

Presentations might focus on how explorations in women’s archives:

blur the boundaries between archivist, researcher, and archives

bust boundaries between the public and private realms

trespass on national boundaries

cross and subvert gender boundaries

encourage a different relationship to the archival and research processes

intersect with feminist theories that push cultural boundaries

blend temporal boundaries, thus bringing the past into the present

We also welcome papers that interrogate how the digitization process or
disciplinary boundaries reinforce or complicate any of these considerations.

Please email your 250-word abstracts and short bios to Ashley Foster at
ashleyfoster@icloud.com and Margaret Galvan at mgalvan@gradcenter.cuny.edu
by March 15. Submitters will receive notification of results by no later
than April 1.

PLEASE NOTE: This CFP is for a proposed, not a guaranteed, session at MLA
2017, meaning it is contingent on approval by the MLA Program Committee
(which will make its decisions after April 1). All prospective presenters
must be current MLA members by no later than April 7, 2016.