This session will present the findings of research into the types of questions posed by patrons during the COVID-19 pandemic on AskAway, the post-secondary consortial chat reference service in BC and the Yukon. The fourteen-member research team, representing eight post-secondary institutions in BC and the Yukon used an iterative process and multiple methods of analysis to examine over 70,000 chat transcripts from September 2019 through August 2021. Utilizing the tools R, Python Pandas, Voy...

Welcome and opening remarks from Christine Smith, chair of the Concordia Library Research Forum committee. Recording: https://youtu.be/2YKgLVSJtvQ

Our CARL-funded research project aimed to understand how marginalized graduate students at our institutions adapted to the pandemic situation, particularly in their research activities, with the goal of providing recommendations on policy enhancements to create more inclusive research environments. The focus of our presentation would be on discussing lessons learned from the study, and the resulting policy recommendations. The COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges to the ed...

In the ongoing research study, we explore: How can libraries establish selection guidelines for the evaluation, acquisition, and provision of software and technologies, which foster digital scholarship research methods? Librarians typically develop selection policies for guiding their decisions on resources (for example books, journals, films, etc.) to acquire for patron access. The goal of these policies is to ensure the library can support community needs within its limited resourcing an...

Many librarians suspect a misalignment between what students actually need to facilitate curricular research, what librarians think students need, and the librarian-curated tools created to meet those perceived needs. Specifically, academic librarians often create online, asynchronously accessible, research guides in order to aggregate relevant sources and outline research strategies.  Unfortunately, two problems persist: 1) If created without a specific request, guides may not...

Since 2018 we have been investigating the 2017-2019 parliamentary review of the Copyright Act, focusing on the recommendations made to the review committee for changes to fair dealing and other topics relevant to libraries and higher education. A new review of the Copyright Act was expected to be announced in late 2022 so in the past year we have shifted our focus to think about how this research might support copyright advocacy in libraries and library organizations.This has us thinking a...

Closing remarks from Pat Riva, Interim University Librarian, Concordia University. Recording: https://youtu.be/D0jUMPnm2nA