Against the Grain V35 July, 2023 Special Report Full Issue

Finding Yourself: A Career in the Information Profession

Guest Edited by Aaisha Haykal (Manager of Archival Services, College of Charleston, Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture)

Begins on Page 5

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VOLUME 35 — 2023-2024

Finding Yourself: A Career in the Information Profession

By Aaisha Haykal (Manager of Archival Services, College of Charleston, Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture) <haykalan@cofc.edu>

Locating My Space

Being an information professional is a career that I had my sights set on from an early age. I can imagine that, like other librarians, archivists, and information professionals, I had a listing of my books, a mini catalog if you will, as well as an appreciation for organization and helping people locate resources. Archives and libraries were a space where I could incorporate my interest in history, literature, and order/ organization. Due to where I grew up in a small rural town in New York, which lacked racial diversity, and where the history of non-white people was limited in the curriculum, I knew that I wanted to work in a space where Black life and history had high value and importance.

I began volunteering in my local public and school libraries as a high school student; then in college, I obtained a work-study job as an undergraduate at the main library and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, which was the African American Studies branch library. In these spaces, I observed my supervisors and learned how to shelve, how to help people use the library catalog, and how to conduct reference interviews. I obtained summer internships in federal and academic libraries and archives, where I learned how to preserve records, catalog, and inventory information sources. The variety of spaces that I worked in gave me a comprehensive overview of the profession and allowed me to understand where my skills and knowledge were best used. During this process and opportunities, it was vital for me to engage with both direct supervisors and colleagues about their careers and what jobs they did and how what I was doing helped them. In doing so, I was able to put into context my work and why what I was doing was important. Furthermore, these spaces have allowed me to explore my interests and to be confident in my decision to preserve and promote the lived experiences of African Americans. As the Manager of Archival Services, College of Charleston, Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, I ensure that archival facilities meet best practices and standards, that we provide outstanding reference services to researchers, and that we accession materials that fit our collection development goals of promoting Black Lowcountry community history. These collections document and center the Black experience to illustrate not only the challenges of Black communities but also the beauty and the joy.

I am deeply appreciative and indebted to the organizations (i.e., American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities), institutions (i.e., Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration-Great Lakes, University of CaliforniaSan Diego), and numerous individuals who poured into me their knowledge, experience, and expertise because they have allowed me to be where I am today. In my current position, I work to give back to the new and emerging professionals by hiring undergraduate and graduate students using best practice guidelines developed by ACRL’s Residency Interest Group.1 This opportunity gives them hands-on archival and library work experience and professional and educational advice.2 Learning in the classroom provides individuals with the foundational

information, but it is in the field where individuals learn how to implement what they learned.

Rationale

For the past few years as a part of the annual Charleston Conference held in November in Charleston, South Carolina (or virtually), I have organized a successful career center which has aimed to help new/emerging professionals as well as those who are looking for career change or shift to ask for help or feedback. Dedicated volunteer advisors and I would hold open hours for people to solicit feedback on their cover letters, curriculum vitaes/resume, and job descriptions, as well as talk about the state of the profession and some trends and issues that have arisen over the years. The career advisors assented to give their time in order to cultivate talent and talk to the new generation of information professionals.

The career center provided a rare opportunity for conversation and discussion about what employers and job seekers are looking for and to see if there are any overlapping issues or congruence. The possibility for open dialogue was very freeing for both sides. Additionally, it demonstrated ways employers could market and advertise their openings and for job seekers to know what is available. Furthermore, there were cross-institutional conversations between academic (tenure versus non-tenure), public, and special libraries, so it was beneficial to see how these spaces have similarities and differences.

About Issue

This special issue provides a sneak peek into some of the issues and concerns of academic archivists, collection development librarians, and publishers. Additionally, it contains tips about the dos and don’ts on the job search.

The authors in this issue were chosen based on their variety of research areas and focus and to provide a wide variety of perspectives from the field.

Kipps explores how to build a library collection that focuses on various stakeholders and its associated challenges, especially amid a pandemic. Samuel discusses the need for cultural competency in librarianship and archival sciences, borrowing a theory from the health field. Mays provides a checklist for career strategies. The issue concludes with individual profiles which provide a little peek into folks thoughts and backgrounds; and a corporate profile of Sage.

Audience

This issue is for anyone who is interested in engaging with some of the current topics and concerns in the library, archive, and publishing fields and will help people who are currently applying for jobs or considering a career shift.

For those who are discouraged, just remember what educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune said, “Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.”

see endnotes on page 7

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If You Build It, They Will Come: Navigating Trends in Collection Development

By Kayla Kipps (Collection Development Librarian, College of Charleston) <kippskl@cofc.edu>

Recent trends in academic librarianship cover the gamut from space needs, collaborative collections, open access, artificial intelligence, big data, and, most notably, how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all parts of librarianship, including collection development.1 As we pass the three-year mark since the COVID-19 pandemic began, it is impossible to consider trends in academic libraries without highlighting how many of the adaptations made have been adopted permanently and have made lasting impacts on collection development.2 While the pandemic required navigating constant change, there is space to “[...] move forward armed with the lessons we’ve learned from our experience [...]” and consider opportunities to explore more flexible acquisition models, participate in internal and external collaborations, and enhance workflows.3 With converging trends across academic librarianship that touch collection development, this article will focus on book and media acquisition, how the pandemic encouraged a sustained shift to electronic acquisition, different facets of electronic acquisitions, and the ways in which this work supports affordable learning.

Prior to the pandemic, the College of Charleston Libraries (College Libraries) received materials in several ways: a print approval plan, print firm ordered books and DVDs, a single demand-driven acquisition eBook plan, and several eBook and streaming media subscription resources. In March 2020, however, the College Libraries, like many other libraries, had to quickly adapt how to handle acquisition practices while continuing to provide remote access to scholarly resources. 4 Because physical material processing became complex to manage, these orders were placed on indefinite hold wherever possible. The College Libraries adopted an e-preferred acquisition policy to curb the amount of print materials purchased to alleviate the need for physical processing while still addressing the need for new acquisitions. This policy prioritized eBook and streaming media purchases to ensure that faculty, staff, and students had access to materials while teaching, researching, and learning remotely. This is not a new trend in academic libraries but is one that had not come to fruition at this library.5 The pandemic encouraged the shift to e-preferred acquisitions and has been successful at the College Libraries because it was broadly accepted, even among faculty that had been traditional print users. In conjunction with this shift, this opportunity supported faculty members in gaining remote access to course materials, something many were actively struggling with. This line of communication among collection development librarians and teaching faculty has continued well beyond the remote-only learning period, and many faculty frequently reach out to see if the library can provide access to electronic materials to use in instruction. This aligns with affordable learning initiatives at the library, which are inclusive of the usage of library-licensed resources, open educational resources (OER), and items freely available in the public domain on the web in the classroom and has strengthened the working relationships among collection development with not only research and instruction librarians but faculty outside of the library.

There are many factors to consider when purchasing electronic materials beyond what has been traditional to consider for print, and this is where different acquisition models are beneficial to explore, especially when considering budget and ownership. Access and ownership are a balancing act for academic libraries to juggle.6 Subscriptions to large packages can ensure a wide variety of material is available at an affordable price but can cost more over time and do not guarantee perpetual access to its contents. Perpetual purchases can be a higher upfront cost but do guarantee that perpetual ownership. This balancing act, and what will be prioritized, will vary from institution to institution. At the College Libraries, ownership is particularly important when considering resources that are being used in the classroom, for example. If a faculty member is assigning a library eBook, perpetual access should be something that they can count on. The College Libraries have open lines of communication and Google forms available for faculty to notify the library of their usage of library resources so that the circumstance of lost access can be allayed. While faculty have been receptive to the rise in the adoption of eBooks, and usage in the classroom can be inferred from high usage numbers, it is not always apparent which faculty are using which library resources in this manner and certain resources that may be important to a curriculum may not get outstanding usage, so this communication is imperative so that proper planning in acquisitions can be conducted.

Having access available to a wide variety of resources, however, is valuable to academic pursuit, and something that can economically be afforded through subscriptions or through demand-driven or evidence-based acquisition plans. In cases where materials cannot be procured or afforded, additional access opportunities are possible through interlibrary loan, collaborative collections available through consortia, or even open educational resources. An exercise in new skills for collection development is the navigation of these scenarios in a way that is budget-conscious, appropriate to a title’s desired use, and that the resources’ lifecycle is well documented to prevent confusion, and that, most importantly, gets the patron the resource they need whether requested or discovered serendipitously.

Since 2020, the College Libraries has adopted a second demand-driven acquisition eBook plan and two evidence-based acquisition plans available through consortium partnerships to strengthen eBook holdings across subject areas. They have also shifted budgets previously available for the print approval plan back into librarian-selected acquisition, mostly in eBook format. DVD purchases have also dropped significantly as faculty turn to available streaming media databases. These additions and modifications have broadened holdings and have been receiving positive feedback while still working favorably with the budget, benefiting every subject area, and being more

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accessible whether a patron is on or off campus. Some of the most important skills in collection development are the tenacity to embrace disruption and to be responsive to patron needs in an ever-changing environment. While technical services have typically been seen as a behind-the-scenes area in librarianship, collection development can be a public service as well, especially if a library places a lot of value on patron input for collections building. As budgets tighten, especially in wake of the pandemic, and libraries become more involved in affordable learning initiatives across college campuses, the need for patron input is crucial for spending money on resources that will be of the most value to the community they serve.

Bibliography

2021-22 ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. “Top Trends in Academic Libraries.” CR&L News, June, 2022. https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/view/25483

Elwell, Jon T., and Fast, Ashley. “Library Analytics: Shaping the Future – COVID-19 One Year Later: Trends in Library Book Acquisitions.” Against the Grain 33, no. 5 (June 2021): 56-57.

Lawson, Robert, and Lawson, Patricia. “Libraries in a Bind: Ownership Versus Access.” Journal of Consumer Affairs 36, no. 2 (March 2005): 295-298. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2002.tb00435.x

Nixon, Judith, and Lehner-Quam, Alison. “Trends in Library Collections: Interview with Judith Nixon, Editor of Collection Management Journal, by Alison Lehner-Quam.” Collection Management 48, no. 1 (September 2022): 1-4. https://doi.org/1 0.1080/01462679.2023.2138035

Park, Alice. “So, Is the Pandemic Over Yet?” Time, February 8, 2023. https://time.com/6253890/is-pandemic-over-bidencovid-19.

Serrano, Amauri, and Fernandez, Michael. “Impacts of COVID-19: Toward a Streaming-Preferred Video Collection Policy.” Collection Management 48, no. 1 (September 2022): 5-21. https:/doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2022.2124392

Tabacaru, Simona. “E-Preferred Approval Plan at a Large Academic Library: Assessment and Collection Development Implications.” Collection Management 43, no. 3 (May 2018): 155176. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2018.1459328

Truesdell, Cheryl. “Is Access a Viable Alternative to Ownership? A Review of Access Performance.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 20, no. 4 (September 1994): 200-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/0099-1333(94)90099-X.

Zang, Ying. “E-Books for Academic Libraries in the USA.” Paper presented at 2018 5th International Symposium on Emerging Trends and Technologies in Libraries and Information Services (ETTLIS), Noida, India, February 2018. https://doi. org/10.1109/ETTLIS.2018.8485208

Endnotes

1. 2021-22 ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee, “Top trends in academic libraries,” CR&L News, June, 2022, https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/article/ view/25483

2. Amauri Serrano and Michael Fernandez, “Impacts of COVID-19: Toward a Streaming-Preferred Video Collection Policy,” Collection Management 48, no. 1 (September 2022): 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/0146 2679.2022.2124392; Judith Nixon and Alison LehnerQuam, “Trends in Library Collections: Interview with Judith Nixon, Editor of Collection Management Journal, by Alison Lehner-Quam,” Collection Management 48, no. 1 (September 2022): 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462 679.2023.2138035.

3. Alice Park, “So, Is the Pandemic Over Yet?” Time, February 8, 2023, https://time.com/6253890/is-pandemic-overbiden-covid-19.

4. Jon T. Elwell and Ashley Fast, “Library Analytics: Shaping the Future – COVID-19 One Year Later: Trends in Library Book Acquisitions,” Against the Grain 33, no. 5 (June 2021): 56-57.

5. Simona Tabacaru, “E-Preferred Approval Plan at a Large Academic Library: Assessment and Collection Development Implications,” Collection Management 43, no. 3 (May 2018): 155-176. https://doi.org/10.10 80/01462679.2018.1459328; Ying Zang, “E-Books for Academic Libraries in the USA,” (paper presented at 2018 5th International Symposium on Emerging Trends and Technologies in Libraries and Information Services (ETTLIS), Noida, India, February 21-23, 2018), 7-11, https://doi.org/10.1109/ETTLIS.2018.8485208

6. Cheryl Truesdell, “Is Access a Viable Alternative to Ownership? A Review of Access Performance,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 20, no. 4 (September 1994): 200-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/0099-1333(94)90099-X; Robert Lawson and Patricia Lawson, “Libraries in a Bind: Ownership Versus Access,” Journal of Consumer Affairs 36, no. 2 (March 2005): 295-298. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2002.tb00435.x.

Endnotes

(for article appearing on page 5)

1. “Diversity Residency Toolkit,” Residency Interest Group, Association for College and Research Libraries, accessed June 12, 2023, https://acrl.ala.org/residency/diversityresidency-toolkit/?fbclid=IwAR2xj8gdhGBoZYvT4iM0d4mon1QXULGVwHMHUS8h2yrqmQmjFesonui0o.

2. Miller, Kelly. “Hidden Learning: Undergraduates at Work in the Archives.” Notes (blog). Archive Journal, September 2012. https://www. archivejournal.net/notes/hidden-learning/.

Vitals in Practice: The Role of Critical Librarianship in Supporting Cultural Competence and Humility Building at Academic Health Sciences Institutions

By Tabitha Y. Samuel, MLIS (Associate Professor/Digital Archivist, Waring Historical Library, Medical University of South Carolina) <samuel@musc.edu>

Introduction

In the wake of the exposure of systemic racism and the social unrest of 2020 that resulted from the brutal murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, many libraries and archives, like countless other public and private sector institutions, self-reflected and developed pledges and plans to critically evaluate and work to eliminate the presence of white supremacy in their practices, collections, and culture. For libraries and archives, this process of evaluation, formally known as critical librarianship, has now become more of an urgent need for those based at academic health sciences institutions because of the health disparities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic.1 Although there are numerous factors that have and continue to contribute to the health disparities that exist in the current landscape of American medicine, whiteness and white supremacy manifest as structural racism in the mere design of the system and permeate at the heart of these issues.2 And, more granularly, the patient-provider relationship struggles to thrive should the provider lack adequate cultural competency and humility skills and training, which are the fundamentals required for effectively communicating with and providing care to diverse patient populations,3 and for addressing other social determinants of health, such as language, health care insurance coverage, quality of care, and health literacy, that heavily influence patient outcomes.4 Without such training, providers are ill-equipped to successfully confront their implicit biases and, thus, help to sustain the cycle of factors contributing to health disparities. It is, therefore, vital for libraries and archives, as the information centers at academic health sciences institutions, to practice intentional critical librarianship to build, sustain, and grow institutional understanding of the histories and cultures of the communities in which an institution serves and, thereby, its development of clinicians, students, and health sciences professionals equipped with cultural competence and humility.

Significance of Critical Librarianship

Conceptually, critical librarianship entails continuous evaluation of library and information science in theory and in practice through the lens of critical theory, which “acknowledges that racism, patriarchy, capitalism, and similar systems of power and oppression have become nearly inextricable from many aspects of Western culture, largely due to centuries of dominance by white, heterosexual, Christian males. This centralization of power led to the marginalization of ‘others…’”5 In theory, critical librarianship, on its own, is inherent in the nature of the core values and code of ethics defined by the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists and in the various functions of the library and archives in practice,

such as stewarding collections, providing equitable access, and preserving the historical record. However, biases as well as library and archival theory and practice designed through the lens of whiteness and white supremacy have and continue to impair the ideals of librarianship and archival practice, and result in issues such as silences in collections and offensive descriptors and language used to characterize historically marginalized communities and their lived experiences in catalog records and metadata. According to Claire Sharifi and Jill BarrWalker in “Critical Librarianship in Health Sciences Libraries: An Introduction:”

“It is important to recognize the structural racism built into our profession and our spaces. Just fifty years ago, libraries were segregated spaces. The myth of library neutrality that claims libraries and library workers are objective and that we should bring no biases or emotions to our work is challenged by critical librarianship…”6

Actively and intentionally practicing critical librarianship offers the needed distinction, and guides committed librarians and archivists endeavoring to dismantle structural racism embedded in their collections, practices, and in the culture of their institutions.

In practice, critical librarianship aims to dismantle systems of oppression in the policies, environment, and various practices carried out by a library or archives. Typically, this can include but is not limited to eliminating offensive language and descriptors in catalog records, metadata, and in finding aids to properly describe historically marginalized communities. Additionally, information professionals can evaluate collections for archival silences, update collection development policies and practices to diminish gaps, contextualize harmful content in collections, and build relationships with community partners to develop programs that engage historically marginalized communities as users and collection donors.

Building Cultural Competency and Humility in Clinicians and Health Professionals

Cultural competency is characterized as respecting “diversity in the patient population and cultural factors that can affect health and health care, such as language, communication styles, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors,”7 and it is the “foundation to reducing disparities by being culturally sensitive and providing unbiased, high-quality care.”8 Cultural humility, on the other hand, is defined as “having a humble and respectful attitude toward people of other cultures. It involves ongoing selfexploration combined with a willingness to learn from others.”9

It is believed that these skills can assist health care practitioners in better understanding the cultures and histories of the patient populations that they serve in order to more adequately address

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factors that contribute to health disparities that they may not otherwise recognize or discover in interactions with patients due to communication barriers, such as provider bias, language, and challenges providers may experience in relating to and in building trust with patients of cultures and identities different from their own. Providing care without cultural competency and humility perpetuates the disconnect in the patient-provider relationship, too often yielding disparities in morbidity and mortality rates, such as the disproportionate mortality rate of Black maternal patients compared to their White, Asian and Hispanic counterparts.10 These disparities are defined by race, gender, sexuality, and other identities in their patient populations.

If equipped with cultural competency and humility, health care practitioners can provide care more effectively with compassion and with a better understanding of their patients. They will be equipped with the skills needed to build a healthier patient-provider relationship. This would entail serving with compassion, actively listening and engaging without assumptions, learning the histories and cultures of the populations they serve, and confronting personal bias. Additionally, practitioners will be better situated to engage patients and patient families in the development of plans of care that offer instruction and meet their needs. With cultural competency and humility skills, practitioners can also help to ensure a more balanced continuity of care for all patients, and institutions will be more effective in offering robust patientfamily liaison services. All these aspects, in addition to a myriad of others, can help to address social determinants of health that contribute to disparities in health care.

Cultural Humility and Competence through Critical Librarianship

Librarians and archivists at these institutions should support cultural competence and humility training through critical librarianship practices and by being attuned to the needs of their institutions and the communities they serve. At the institutional level, this could look like creating modules and exhibits dedicated to educating health sciences professionals and students about the history of the institution and the histories of the communities it serves, highlighting collections documenting the local history and historically marginalized communities, hosting lectures to address the histories of issues in health disparities and social justice facing the local communities, and exposing health sciences professionals and students to a diversity of thought in open access scholarly communications, reference interviews, and evidence-based practice resources.

From a community and outreach perspective, libraries and archives should be poised to engage the communities they serve, including those that are historically marginalized, with the intention of building trust. This requires that cultural competency and humility guide relations with community members. This work could entail building relationships with collection donors and informing them about key processes, such as the development of finding aids and digital collections, involving the collection(s) that they donate. These efforts could also include partnering with community members on projects that document the community, developing events that engage the community and that teach community members ways to document and preserve their family histories. However, the end goal of this work cannot be accomplished without providing cultural competence and humility training to all library and archival staff.

Conclusion: The Role of Critical Librarianship in Building Cultural Competency and Humility

As the information centers of their institutions, archives and libraries at academic health sciences institutions can play a pivotal role in equipping clinicians, students, and health sciences professionals with cultural competency and humility. Taking critical librarianship practices a step further, librarians and archivists at these institutions can be an active presence for dismantling systems of oppression by educating their institutions about the histories of the cultures and communities in which they serve through exhibit and library guide curation, exposing students and clinicians to a diversity of thought in open access scholarly communications, reference interviews, and evidence-based practice, and by hosting lectures to address issues in health disparities and social justice facing their patient populations. Overall, the end goal should be — whether health or information sciences professional — individuals should seek to serve with cultural competency and humility by committing to recognizing and addressing their biases, learning about the histories and cultures of the communities they serve, and building relationships with those they serve with empathy, compassion, and respect. The success of librarians and archivists practicing intentional critical librarianship at academic health sciences institutions in reaching this goal can only be sustained, however, through their own active commitment to cultural competency and humility, their ability to establish trust in the communities in which they serve, and the buy-in and support of their institution.

Bibliography

Artiga, Samantha, and Elizabeth Hinton. “Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity.” KFF. May 10, 2018. https://www.kff.org/ racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/beyond-healthcare-the-role-of-social-determinants-in-promoting-healthand-health-equity/.

Braveman, Paula, and Laura Gottlieb. “The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes.” Public Health Reports 129, no. 1 (2014): 19-31. doi: 10.1177/00333549141291S206

Carbajal, Itza A. “The Politics of Being an Archival Donor: Defining the Affective Relationship Between Archival Donors and Archivists.” Radical Empathy in Archival Practice 3, no. 2 (2021): 1-26. doi: 10.24242/jclis.v3i2.114.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Principle 1: Embrace Cultural Humility and Community Engagement.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. August 8, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/equity/guide/culturalhumility.html

Dodge, Lucy. “How Does Decolonising Medicine Affect My Library?” Decolonising Through Critical Librarianship. June 17, 2022. https://decolonisingthroughcriticallibrarianship. wordpress.com/2022/06/17/how-does-decolonising-medicineaffect-my-library/.

Green, Alexander R., Maria B. J. Chun, Marina C. Cervantes, Jacob D. Nudel, Jason V. Duong, Edward Krupat, and Joseph R. Betancourt. “Measuring Medical Students’ Preparedness and Skills to Provide Cross-Cultural Care.” Health Equity 1, no. 1 (2017): 15-22. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ heq.2016.0011

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Grieving, Jennifer. “Historical Literacy and Cultural Competence in College Students Enrolled in Family Science Courses.” Family Science Review 23, no. 2 (2019): 65-84. https://www.familyscienceassociation.org/wp-content/ uploads/2021/07/2019-23-2-Historical-Literacy-and-CulturalCompetence-In-college-Students_-Greiving.pdf.

Hobbs, Joseph. “White Privilege in Health Care: Following Recognition with Action.” Annals of Family Medicine 16, no. 3 (2018): 197-198. doi: 10.1370/afm.2243.

Jahnke, Lori M., Kyle Tanaka, and Christopher A. Palazzolo. “Ideology, Policy, and Practice: Structural Barriers to Collections Diversity in Research and College Libraries.” College & Research Libraries 83, no. 2 (2022): 166-183. https://crl.acrl.org/index. php/crl/article/view/25342/33226.

Kasten-Mutkus, Kathleen, and Jamie Saragossi. “The Interdisciplinary Academic Library: A Medical Humanities Case Study.” Libraries and the Academy 21, no. 1 (2020): 113-125. https://preprint.press.jhu.edu/portal/sites/default/ files/21.1mutkus.pdf.

Ketchum, David H. “Introduction: Critical Librarianship,” in Critical Librarianship: Advances in Library Administration and Organization, edited by Schmehl Samantha Hines, 1-3. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing, 2020.

Knibb-Lamouche, James. “Culture as a Social Determinant of Health.” In Leveraging Culture to Address Health Inequalities, edited by Karen M. Anderson and Steve Olson, 5-12. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2013. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201298/#:~:text=Cultural%20 competence%3A%20Awareness%20of%20one’s,of%20the%20 client%20under%20consideration

Knipper, Michael. “Joining Ethnography and History in Cultural Competence Training.” Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 37 (2013): 373-384. doi: 10.1007/s11013-013-9315-1.

National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. “Let’s Talk: Whiteness and Health Equity.” 2020. https://nccdh. ca/images/uploads/comments/Lets-talk-whiteness-and-healthequity_2020_EN.pdf

Pelc, Corrie. “What is Cultural Competency, and Why is it Crucial to Healthcare?” Medical News Today. November 9, 2022. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-is-culturalcompetency-and-why-is-it-crucial-to-healthcare.

Prasad, Sunila J., Pooja Nair, Karishma Gadhvi, Ishani Barai, Hiba Saleem Danish, and Aaron B. Philip. “Letter to the Editor: Cultural Humility: Treating the Patient, Not the Illness.” Medical Education Online 21 (2016): 1-2. doi: 10.3402/meo.v21.30908.

Program for Cultural Competence in Research; Harvard Catalyst; Program for Faculty Development & Diversity. “Cultural Competence in Research: Annotated Bibliography.” Harvard Catalyst. 2009. https://catalyst.harvard.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2021/03/CCR-annotated-bibliography-10-1210ver2-FINAL.pdf

Schrager, Sarina. “Racism in Health Care: Creating a More Equitable Health Care Experience.” Family Practice Management 27, no. 5 (2020): 3-4. https://www.aafp.org/pubs/ fpm/issues/2020/0900/p3.html.

Schuster, Dinah. “Honing Cultural Humility Skills Can Improve Health Care as a Whole (blog).” Penn Medicine News. May 13, 2021. https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/newsblog/2021/may/honing-cultural-humility-skills-can-improvehealth-care-as-a-whole.

Sharifi, Claire, and Jill Barr-Walker. “Critical Librarianship in Health Sciences Libraries: An Introduction.” Journal of the Medical Library Association 107, no. 2 (2019): 258-264. https://repository. usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=librarian

Simmons-Duffin, Selena, and Carmel Wroth. “Maternal Deaths in the U.S. Spiked in 2021, CDC Reports.” NPR. March 16, 2023. https://www.npr.org/sections/healthshots/2023/03/16/1163786037/maternal-deaths-in-the-u-sspiked-in-2021-cdc-reports#:~:text=The%20maternal%20 death%20rate%20among,the%20rate%20for%20White%20 women

Skeem, Dainan M. “Donor Relations in the Twenty-First Century.” Journal of Western Archives 9, no. 1 (2018): 1-15. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/westernarchives/vol9/iss1/9/.

Society of American Archivists. “Archival Silence.” Dictionary of Archives Terminology. Accessed November 4, 2023. https:// dictionary.archivists.org/entry/archival-silence.html.

Stewart, Ada. “Cultural Humility Is Critical to Health Equity (blog).” American Academy of Family Physicians. April 18, 2019. https://www.aafp.org/news/blogs/leadervoices/ entry/20190418lv-humility.html.

Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “How to Improve Cultural Competence in Health Care.” Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine: Blog. March 1, 2021. https://publichealth.tulane.edu/ blog/cultural-competence-in-health-care/.

Yearby, Ruqaiijah, Brietta Clark, and José F Figueroa. “Structural Racism in Historical and Modern US Health Care Policy.” Health Equity 41, no. 2 (2022): 187-194. doi: 10.1377/ hlthaff.2021.01466.

Tabitha Y. Samuel is the Digital Archivist of the Waring Historical Library, the rare books and special collections library of the Medical University of South Carolina. A Columbia, South Carolina native and Furman University graduate, Ms. Samuel received her Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.

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Endnotes

1. Ruqaiijah Yearby, Brietta Clark, and José F. Figueroa, “Structural Racism in Historical and Modern US Health Care Policy,” Health Equity 42, no. 2 (2022): 187-194, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01466

2. “Let’s Talk: Whiteness and Health Equity,” National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, 2020. https://nccdh.ca/ images/uploads/comments/Lets-talk-whiteness-and-health-equity_2020_EN.pdf

3. James Knibb-Lamouche, “Culture as a Social Determinant of Health,” In Leveraging Culture to Address Health Inequalities, ed. Karen M. Anderson and Steve Olson (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2013), 5-12.

4. Samantha Artiga and Elizabeth Hinton, “Beyond Health Care: The Role of Social Determinants in Promoting Health and Health Equity,” KFF, May 10, 2020. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/beyond-health-care-the-role-ofsocial-determinants-in-promoting-health-and-health-equity/.

5. David H. Ketchum, “Introduction: Critical Librarianship” in Critical Librarianship: Advances in Library Administration and Organization, ed. Samantha Schmehl Hines (United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing, 2020), 1.

6. Claire Sharifi and Jill Barr-Walker, “Critical Librarianship in Health Sciences Libraries: An Introduction,” Journal of the Medical Library Association 107, no. 2 (2019): 258-264, doi: 10.5195/jmla.2019.620

7. Ada Stewart, “Cultural Humility Is Critical to Health Equity,” American Academy of Family Physicians (blog), April 19, 2019, https://www.aafp.org/news/blogs/leadervoices/entry/20190418lv-humility.html.

8. Stewart, “Cultural Humility.”

9. Stewart, “Cultural Humility.”

10. Selena Simmons-Duffin and Carmel Wroth, “Maternal Deaths in the U.S. Spiked in 2021, CDC Reports,” NPR, March 16, 2023, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/16/1163786037/maternal-deaths-in-the-u-s-spiked-in-2021-cdcreports#:~:text=The%20maternal%20death%20rate%20among,the%20rate%20for%20White%20women.

A Checklist for Career Strategies and Job-Seeking

By Antje Mays (Coordinator of Collection Development, University of Kentucky Libraries) <antjemays@uky.edu>

Career Planning as Framework for Job-Seeking

Are you starting your career and looking for your first job? Are you an experienced professional pondering your next career move? Successful job searches draw from longrange career planning in addition to the immediate focus of navigating specific job searches. At the start of one’s career, the first role is important to becoming established and setting a career direction. With growing experience, the sequence of roles is important to the career trajectory. Whether earlycareer or already established, knowing what positions to seek out is informed by reflecting on one’s values, skills, interests, career path and growth goals, and community of service and connection. Applications should be tailored to specific positions. This customized approach gains more depth when informed by these broader career reflections (Bolles, 2023; Coleman, 2021; Miller, 2020; Press, 2020). This article offers a two-part checklist — Part I covers guideposts for reflection and career strategies; Part II shares guideposts for job-seeking.

I. Checklist for Career Strategies

1. Values and work culture: Job success is greatly enhanced when your values, the organization’s mission and values, and workplace culture are compatible. Examples of values include integrity, excellence, hard work, service commitment, and a spirit of inquiry. Which values are non-negotiable? For example, if innovation is a core value, is the potential organization creating meaningful solutions to challenges in the library world? If excellence is a core value, what can be discerned about a potential employer’s approaches to quality (Bolles, 2023)? Regarding workplace culture, much has been written about toxic workplace cultures and burnout in recent literature across many industries including libraries. Toxic environments obstruct organizational functioning, undermine trust, and hinder workplace relations — warning signs of incompatibility with higher-order values (Holm et al., 2020; Owens & DaulElhindi, 2020). Conversely, commitment to ethics, honesty in work relationship, and values-based business practices promote trust and support higher-order values (Gillespie et al., 2021; Swaroopa & Chandrasekhar, 2019).

2. Skills & strengths: What are your key strengths and skills? Examples of skills include teaching, public speaking, writing, data analysis and visualization, creative problemsolving, research, management. If just starting your career, consider your study programs and volunteer projects. What tasks and knowledge areas came naturally? Are your skills and strengths rooted in working with people, ideas, processes, or objects? What skills need further development? Career planners should strategically seek out training, classes, tutorials, and other learning resources to strengthen these skill areas (Coleman, 2021; Gray, 2017; Markgren & Allen, 2013).

3. Interests: What types of work spark your enthusiasm? Which areas of librarianship interest you? To identify areas of interest, begin with reflection: What types of problems are you

interested in solving?

What types of tasks and projects interest you? For recent MLIS graduates, which classes, independent study projects, and practicum placements spoke to you? What made these study activities attractive? What recurring themes permeated your favorite learning projects? For already practicing librarians, what areas of the professional literature are especially inspiring? What challenges in the field inspire you to provide solutions through your skills and knowledge? In prior positions, which tasks and projects proved the most interesting and inspiring? Which important contributions have those work areas made? In which ways have they made positive impacts and inspire you to pursue this work further (Bolles, 2023; Hakala-Ausperk, 2017; Miller, 2020)?

4. Career path and growth goals: Based on your values, skills and strengths, and interests, what career path is of interest and what are your growth goals? The library and information profession has variety and offers many career paths. In libraries, paths include administration, acquisitions, collections, electronic resources, scholarly communications, data, digital scholarship, information technology, archives, special collections, instruction, liaison roles, public programming and more in academic, school, public, corporate, government, special libraries, publishers, vendors, technology providers, library-adjacent consultancies, and independent roles. Whether staying in libraries or pivoting to the publisher or vendor side, considering one’s values, skills, interests, and the types of work across the information industry provide grounding for deciding next career steps (Hirsh, 2018; “Library Specialties,” 2008; Pintar & Hopping, 2023; “Types of jobs in libraries,” 2009; Whitlatch & Woodard, 2020).

5. Community: mentor, service, publishing and presenting, professional ties: Career strategies are inextricably linked to active participation in the profession and community. Service projects contributing one’s knowledge also help enhance one’s skills. Participating in the profession through conferences, publications, presentations, mentoring, and professional networks cements ties and builds further knowledge conducive to career growth (Hibner & Kelly, 2017; Pratchett & Young, 2016).

II. Checklist for Job-Seeking

1. Résumé, CV, cover letter: Is your résumé or curriculum vitae (CV) up-to-date? Do your materials reflect your most recently honed skills and latest accomplishments? Does your cover letter address the specific needs of the position? It is important to convey enthusiasm and how your skills and experience support the organization’s needs expressed in the job description (Markgren & Allen, 2013; Yate, 2015, 2014).

2. Positions of interest: Librarianship offers many specialty areas. Begin by determining areas of interest. What areas of

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librarianship inspire you? Defining potential roles based on skills and interests is an important foundation for choosing positions to pursue (Bolles, 2023; Coleman, 2021; Gray, 2017; Hakala-Ausperk, 2017; Hirsh, 2018; Markgren & Allen, 2013; Whitlatch & Woodard, 2020). Examine a potential position of interest. What is it designed to accomplish? Is the mix and arrangement of tasks conducive to successfully achieving those goals (Ceniza-Levine & Thanasoulis-Cerrachio, 2011)?

3. Researching the organization: Conduct online searches and research the literature for the library and library professionals at the organization of interest. The research findings will impart a sense of the organization and its employees. Are they active in professional publications, presentations, and service? What projects is the library undertaking? Going by available information about the organizational chart and roles, how is the library organized? Is the organizational structure conducive to serving constituencies smoothly and efficiently? Do the employees’ roles at the target library provide insights into workflows and priorities (Ceniza-Levine & ThanasoulisCerrachio, 2011; Holm et al., 2020; Owens & Daul-Elhindi, 2020)?

4. Interview: Ask questions during the succession of phone, virtual, and on-site interviews. Your initiative to ask questions informed by your research on the library and librarians communicates your interest, knowledge, active engagement, and enables you to gather additional information about the library and position (Markgren & Allen, 2013; Press, 2020).

5. Networking and connecting: Engage in the profession through outreach, service, collaborative projects, mentoring, co-authorships, publications, presentations, and meeting colleagues at conferences. Experienced professionals should consider mentoring new librarians, offer co-authorships to help them on their publishing journey, and help them connect with the professional community. Connecting with colleagues broadens your knowledge, generates new career ideas, widens your perspectives, provides opportunities to give to the profession, and can spawn friendships — elements for success in job-seeking and career growth (Coleman, 2019; Markgren & Allen, 2013).

References

Bolles, Richard N. What Color Is Your Parachute? 2023 Edition : Your Guide to a Lifetime of Meaningful Work and Career Success. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2023

Ceniza-Levine, Caroline, and Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio. Six Steps to Job Search Success . Arlington, Virginia: Saylor Foundation, 2011.

Coleman, Ken. From Paycheck to Purpose : the Clear Path to Work You Love. Franklin, TN: Ramsey Press, 2021.

Coleman, Ken. The Proximity Principle : the Proven Strategy That Will Lead to the Career You Love. Brentwood, TN: Ramsey Press, 2019

Gillespie, Nicole, Roy J. Lewicki, and Ashley Fulmer. Understanding Trust in Organizations : a Multilevel Perspective Edited by Nicole Gillespie, Roy J. Lewicki, and Ashley Fulmer. New York: Routledge, 2021.

Gray, Jamie M. Becoming a Powerhouse Librarian : How to Get Things Done Right the First Time . Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.

Hakala-Ausperk, Catherine. Renew Yourself : a Six-Step Plan for More Meaningful Work. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2017.

Hibner, Holly, and Mary Kelly. Taking Your Library Career to the Next Level : Participating, Publishing, and Presenting . Cambridge, MA: Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier, 2017.

Hirsh, Sandra. Information Services Today : an Introduction. Edited by Sandra Hirsh. Second edition. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.

Holm, Christina, Ana Guimaraes, and Nashieli Marcano. Academic Librarian Burnout : Causes and Responses. Edited by Christina Holm, Ana Guimaraes, and Nashieli Marcano. Chicago, Illinois: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2022.

“Library Specialties”, American Library Association, September 11, 2008. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.ala. org/educationcareers/careers/paths/specialty/libraryspecialties.

Markgren, Susanne, and Tiffany Eatman Allen. Career Q&A : a Librarian’s Real-Life, Practical Guide to Managing a Successful Career. Medford, New Jersey: Information Today, Inc., 2013.

Miller Dan. 2020. 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love : Find It - or Create It. 20th anniversary revised and expanded edition. New York New York: Morgan James Publishing.

Owens, Tammi M., and Carol A. Daul-Elhindi. The 360 Librarian : a Framework for Integrating Mindfulness, Emotional Intelligence, and Critical Reflection in the Workplace. Chicago, Illinois: Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, 2020.

Pintar, Judith, and David Hopping. Information Science : the Basics. Abingdon, Oxon ;: Routledge, 2023.

Pratchett, Tracey, and Gil Young. Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff. London: Facet, 2016.

Press, Meggan. Get the Job : Academic Library Hiring for the New Librarian. Chicago, Illinois: Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, 2020.

Swaroopa, Br. Prasanna, and T. D. Chandrasekhar. Good Values, Great Business. 1st edition. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2019.

“Types of jobs in libraries”, American Library Association, August 19, 2009. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.ala.org/ educationcareers/careers/paths/jobtypes/librarians

Whitlatch, Jo Bell, and Beth S. Woodard. Competency-Based Career Planning for Reference and User Services Professionals Chicago: ALA Editions, 2020.

Yate, Martin. Knock Em Dead Cover Letters 11th Edition: Cover Letters and Strategies to Get the Book You Want. Jumpingdude Media, 2015.

Yate, Martin. Knock ’Em Dead Resumes: A Killer Resume Gets More Job Interviews. Holbrook: F+W Media, 2014.

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ATG PROFILES ENCOURAGED

Camille Gamboa Associate Vice President, Corporate Communications, Sage

1400 L St NW, Ste 250

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 805-410-0577

<camille.gamboa@sagepub.com>

https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillegamboa/

BORN AND LIVED: I spent most of my life in California (Upland, Malibu, and the Bay Area), studied abroad in Argentina and Spain as an exchange student from Pepperdine University, did a mission trip for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Chile, and now currently reside in Northern Virginia.

EARLY LIFE: I come from a family of eight and learned independence at a young age. While my parents were not college graduates growing up (my mother has since gotten her bachelor’s), they always instilled in us the importance of higher education, which in part inspires my work today.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND ACTIVITIES: At Sage, I work on brand management and support our efforts to help social and behavioral science (SBS) make a positive impact on the world.

For example, I work with a team at Sage that is focused on redefining how we measure research success so that we can celebrate and incentivize research that will positively benefit society. As sociologist Duncan Watts has stated, “measurement is a tremendous driver of science.” And yet we focus on one simple, blunt, citation-based measure that doesn’t adequately capture the type of success that most directly makes impact beyond academia. If we can improve how we track and measure research success, we can drive the type of science that will better the world. Currently, we are working on new free-to-use technology that will help researchers discover where their research is used by policymakers. Look out for it in the fall.

FAMILY: I have two lively daughters and one awesome husband.

IN MY SPARE TIME: I explore the Washington, DC area with my children, run, read, and am currently teaching myself the piano (or trying to!).

FAVORITE BOOKS: I am pretty easily pleased, so my favorite books are the ones I’m currently reading. Today that would be The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis and Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow — both thought-provoking.

PET PEEVES: “Bottom-up” thinking — in other words, pursuing an idea because it sounds cool but not because it helps achieve bigger goals or greater good.

PHILOSOPHY: When my own challenges seem overwhelming (personal or professional), focus instead on doing the “right” thing and supporting others. I feel better every single time.

MOST MEMORABLE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: I started at Sage as an intern just out of grad school in 2011 — the second U.S. hire in a newly formed public relations department. A little more than a decade later, I’m co-leading a team of corporate communication professionals that span the U.S. and UK. I think my most important achievement would be helping to transform our team from one that focused on PR for publishing outputs to one that focuses on how our company as a whole can enable instructors, scholars, and librarians to make an impact on campus and beyond. We are more outward-focused and more dedicated to the mission that our company was founded upon 58 years ago as a result. For example, because SBS is at the core of our publishing program at Sage, my team focuses on big-picture projects that will support SBS success. We support advocacy groups dedicated to connecting SBS to policy and ultimately, to securing funding so they can have a strong future. And we have created a network of SBS advocacy groups, government funding agencies, and science societies across the trans-Atlantic to work toward shared goals together.

While supporting a team that spans multiple time zones can prove challenging, it is amazing how close you can feel to co-workers who are a whole ocean apart when you are both invested in a project together. If you can share a vision and align strategies, you can get lost in your projects and even forget that you’re not in the same room working sideby-side.

GOAL I HOPE TO ACHIEVE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW: I’ve never said it out loud, but I would love to try adjunct teaching in corporate communications or PR and hope to at least give it a try by the end of five years.

HOW/WHERE DO I SEE THE INDUSTRY IN FIVE YEARS: I see the industry using technology to make our work more human (probably more a hope than a prediction). As we figure out the best ways to use AI-based technologies, my hope is that we will focus on bigger-picture stuff such as making research and teaching material more accessible, usable, and impactful. For example, Sage is exploring how AI can make our resources more accessible to all learners and how we can use AI to better connect our research with those outside of academia through AI-produced, nonacademic research summaries.

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Antje Mays Coordinator of Collection Development University of Kentucky Libraries Lexington, KY 40506-0456

<antjemays@uky.edu>

EARLY LIFE: Lots of reading, design, and collaborative creative projects spurred a lifelong quest for knowledge. Serving as a math and language tutor for children with academic struggles and seeing their breakthroughs to understanding the material was very inspiring. This made me see the power of stepping up to serve in making a positive difference in the lives of others.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND ACTIVITIES: My library career has been in collections, acquisitions, liaison and instruction across a wide range of disciplines, sharing knowledge through publications and presentations, and a variety of elected faculty leadership roles, with other work around foreign languages, business, design, and data analysis & visualization.

IN MY SPARE TIME: Anything design-related, community service around historic preservation and mentoring; currently taking artificial intelligence (AI) courses.

FAVORITE BOOKS: Everything by Leo Tolstoy — his keen insights into human nature were timeless. I also enjoyed Ray Dalio’s recent series of books on business principles and countries’ economic histories and geopolitical trajectories (Principles: life & work; Principles for dealing with the changing world order: why nations succeed and fail; Principles for navigating big debt crises).

PET PEEVES: Dishonesty, incompetence, mediocrity, lack of vision, lack of empathy.

PHILOSOPHY: Have courage and be kind. Make a difference. Life moves forward — Keep learning and growing; work each day to become a better version of myself than the day before.

MOST MEMORABLE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT: My next one!

GOAL I HOPE TO ACHIEVE FIVE YEARS FROM NOW: Complete my artificial intelligence coursework and lead meaningful AI applications in operational and broader contexts. Keep learning and growing. Make a difference through servant-leadership and meaningfully applied knowledge. What exactly will this look like in five years? Too early to know — so many moving parts in our profession!

HOW/WHERE DO I SEE THE INDUSTRY IN FIVE YEARS: Good question — our industry is at a crossroads. The answer could go in several directions, depending on if the industry finds common ground around licensing, access, business models, pricing models, knowledge production and dissemination, and library services. Will geofencing for digital media continue, or will the industry adopt world rights? Will library science education and the practical work of library and information professionals grow further apart, or grow closer through dialogue and mutual understanding? Scholarly communication is rapidly changing — will library operations adapt, and will mutually beneficial industry collaborations evolve? Libraries are rapidly branching out into new areas, while users also lean on traditional services. New areas include data librarianship, digital humanities, scholarly production (publishing and institutional repositories), affordable course content, technologies, assessment, analysis, just to name a few. Will the industry find balance and common ground around Open Access (OA)? Will universities develop campus-wide frameworks for OA as libraries intersect with multiple OA interests? Will library funding support libraries’ evolving roles and skill

development to the extent required by the far-reaching shifts across the industry? Will campuses and communities engage libraries as strategic partners? If industry players collaborate in a spirit of shared interest, the next five years will see mutually beneficial frameworks. If, however, industry players pull apart in pursuit of narrow interests, trust will erode, and financial frameworks will become irreconcilable and unsustainable.

Tabitha Y. Samuel, MLIS

Digital Archivist

Waring Historical Library

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, SC 29425

<samuel@musc.edu>

BORN AND LIVED: Columbia, SC

PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND ACTIVITIES:

• Webmaster, South Carolina Archival Association (SCAA)

• Vice Chair, Website Committee, Southeastern Library Association (SELA)

• Vice Chair, Mentor Committee, Southeastern Library Association (SELA)

• Midlands Regional Coordinator, South Carolina History Day

• Member, Black Maternal Health Week Planning Committee

• Consultant, Preserving Digital Objects with Restricted Resources (Digital POWRR) Project

Institutional Service:

• Faculty Advisor, MUSC Humanitas

• Member, Bicentennial History and Exhibits Subcommittee

• Member, MUSC Humanities Program Leaders

• Member, University Records Management Task Force

MUSC Libraries Service:

• Member, Waring Historical Library Human Remains Advisory Group

• Member, Waring Historical Library Historian Search Committee

• Member, Waring Library Society Renovation Planning Committee

IN MY SPARE TIME: I love taking road trips, and going to concerts.

PHILOSOPHY: You are in command of yourself only. Show up leading with compassion, empathy, and gratitude and with the peace of knowing that everything works out just as it should.

HOW/WHERE DO I SEE THE INDUSTRY IN FIVE YEARS: So much is changing in the world around us. These changes have positive and negative implications for libraries and archives. While we endeavor to provide more equitable access and to have and care for collections that are better representative of the communities we serve, we contend with the politicization of those collections. There is so much potential with emerging technologies, such as ChatGPT, but so much unknown. Ideally, libraries will be safe, evolving, and trusted institutions during the uncertainty.

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COMPANY PROFILES ENCOURAGED

Sage Thousand Oaks (Headquarters)

2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 United States

KEY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: Sage publishes books, journals, and learning resources for libraries, groundbreaking multimedia digital resources, as well as full online courses. Technology from Sage offers a curated suite of library technologies that support teaching, learning, and research — from managing reading lists to discovering online resources available through the library to reference management.

Washington DC

1400 L ST NW, STE 250, Washington, DC 20005 United States

Toronto

Corwin Canada, 77 Bloor St W #600, Toronto, ON M5S 1M2 Canada

United Kingdom

1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London, EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom Registration No. 1017514

India

Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd., Unit No 323-333, Third Floor, F-Block International Trade Tower, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110 019 India

Singapore

8 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 1 #43-01 Singapore, 018960

Phone: 1-800-818-7243

Website: group.sagepub.com

AFFILIATED COMPANIES: AM, Corwin, CQ Press, Learning Matters, Technology from Sage.

OFFICERS: Blaise R. Simqu, Chief Executive Officer. Ziyad Marar, President, Global Publishing. Tracey Ozmina, President, Global Chief Operating Officer. Joy Lindsay, EVP & Chief People Officer. Chris Hickok, EVP & Global Chief Financial Officer. Karen Phillips, EVP Learning and UK Executive Lead.

ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS, ETC.: Sage publishes on behalf of, and in association with, nearly 400 societies.

VITAL INFORMATION: Our founder, Sara Miller McCune, recently passed control of the company to a group of trustees charged with maintaining our independence and mission indefinitely. Eventually, a number of higher education institutions will become Sage’s financial beneficiaries. As a result, the company can never be acquired, will never go public, and will never be controlled by shareholders.

Our guaranteed independence means we’re free to:

Do more — supporting an equitable academic future, furthering disciplines that drive social change, and helping social and behavioral science make an impact

Work together — building lasting relationships, championing diverse perspectives, and co-creating resources to transform teaching and learning

Think long-term — experimenting, taking risks, and investing in new ideas

CORE MARKETS/CLIENTELE: Academic, educational, and professional markets

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: More than 1,800

NUMBER OF BOOKS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY (PRINT, ELECTRONIC, OPEN ACCESS, ETC.): More than 500 books per year

NUMBER OF JOURNALS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY (PRINT, ELECTRONIC, OPEN ACCESS, ETC.): 1,190

HISTORY AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOUR COMPANY/ PUBLISHING PROGRAM: Sage is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources with a growing range of technologies to enable discovery, access, and engagement.

Believing that research and education are critical in shaping society, 24-year-old Sara Miller McCune founded Sage with the launch of our first journal in 1965 with $500 in start-up capital, a one-room office in New York City, and the mentorship of her future husband George McCune. The new company, named after its founders, Sara and George, moved to Southern California in 1966, and within its first decade had established an office in London, the start of Sage’s international presence.

In 2021, Sara passed control of Sage to a group of trustees charged with maintaining our independence and mission indefinitely. In doing so, she enabled the company to invest with confidence in building bridges to knowledge — supporting the development of ideas through the research process to scholarship that is certified, taught, and applied.

Today, Sage is known for its commitment to the social and behavioral sciences: the Little Green Book Series; an expansive reference collection; research methods journals, videos, and texts; and content emphasizing critical thinking, data analysis, and computational tools are all published with the aim of training current and future social scientists.

As an independent company, we have the freedom to put considerable effort making sure that the research we publish makes impact not only within academe but amongst practitioners, policymakers, and the public. For example, we are working to redefine how we measure research success so that we can celebrate and incentivize research that makes lasting or societal impact. And we are long-term advocates of open science — just to name a few efforts, we publish Sage Open, the first broad-spectrum OA journal aimed specifically at the social and behavioral science community; we publish more than 200 “gold” OA journals and are currently piloting Subscribe to Open models on a subset of journals; and we were the first publisher to build our own portal specifically to manage OA agreements that decreases the administrative burden on librarians. We are proud of the quality research we publish in all of our journals and the impact that it has on society. (You can read more about this work in our first ever “Independence with Impact” annual report.)

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IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU THINK WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO OUR READERS? In March of this year, Sage refreshed our brand look and feel — our logo, font, colors, and more — and the way we talk about our company. Sage’s identity as an independent company has always been a guiding principle for how we run our business and support the higher education community, and this refreshed brand more effectively infuses this spirit of independence into everything we touch.

Our learning resources offered through the library research methods, business, data analytics, reference, and skillbuilding resources for students — have also been rebranded and reorganized. This will allow for a seamless experience across our traditional and digital resources and allow us to better convey their benefit to customers and end users. The changes also better reflect our editorial strategy of curating quality, original, commissioned content (rather than aggregating) and showcase our ability as an independent company to take risks on new resources that focus on emerging trends and future-facing needs of students.

With these changes, we have doubled down on our belief that the library is the center of the higher ed institution, supporting learning, and research for the long-term future, especially in an era of rapidly changing technology. We believe that patrons not only benefit when librarians can help navigate them through these changes, but they need it. So, we will continue to amplify librarian thought leadership, invest in library-developed innovation and librarian talent (see a list of the awards and scholarships we offer to librarians), and develop library-centered technologies that improve the patron workflow

From managing resource lists to discovering online resources and reference management. Whether used individually or in combination, our technologies amplify the value of your library on campus, prepare your library for the future and are backed by the Sage name you already trust. Find

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