Open LibGuide Review
Recognizing the Biases in Academic Scholarship
This box is an example of a tool of transparency used in our LibGuides.
In order to critically engage with scholarship, scholars need to be aware of the inherent problems within the system of academic scholarship. Be aware that many databases have inherent bias that reflect a primarily white, cis-male standard that permeates American society and academia. Even the terms we use to search for research are inherently problematic. By acknowledging these inherent problems, all scholars can participate in improving the academic and public discourse.
Digital Publishing Fellow
Welcome
This guide outlines the Robert E. Kennedy Library's Open LibGuide Review Sessions.
We have created this project to cultivate a community that provides space for critique, conversation and criticality. We hope to bring anti-racist practices to our LibGuides using critical race theory in acknowledging the structures of publishing, libraries, and reference in our work. This review system works towards implementing an open review system to ensure that LibGuides hold the criticality to fights against the farce of neutrality within knowledge organizations. We value all perspectives in our organization to come together.
To get involved as a:
1. Participant, feel free to come observe the discussion.
2. Reviewer, provide your thoughtful comments on the rubric for the upcoming review.
3. Author, submit your LibGuide to be reviewed!
For more details, please see "About Open Review Sessions" below.
This living LibGuide was created by Jaime Ding, Mark Bieraugel, Russ White, Laura Sorvetti, and Sarah Lester on October 7, 2020, and updated by Jaime Ding spring 2021.
Current Calendar of Review Sessions
Review sessions are on pause for the summer. Instead, Robert E. Kennedy Library will be undergoing Camp LORDS, working meetings every week to catch up on the work that we have pointed out throughout the past academic year.
Below is the schedule for Camp LORDS, meeting at Tuesday at 1pm.
| Date | Topic |
|---|---|
| June 22 | Working Meeting |
| June 29 | Tech Day |
| July 13 | Mapped Boxes Day |
| July 20 | Bios Day |
| July 27 | Working Meeting |
| August 3 | Collective Statements Day |
| August 10 | Working Meeting |
| August 17 | Tech Day |
| August 24 | Rubric Review |
Please contact jaime ding (jpding@calpoly.edu) for the zoom room link!
| Date | LibGuide | Rubric Link |
|---|---|---|
| Fall - TBD | Special Collections and Archives | Rubric |
| TBD | Graduate Student Research Guide |
About Open Review Sessions
Each session will be a small, intimate conversation to discuss the work of the reviewer. The rubric is used to guide the conversation, gather and organize feedback, and provide documentation for LibGuide authors for future edits. While these sessions are a form of open peer review, the ideas that come out of the sessions are not in any way a kind of governance, requirement, or standard.
The most important part is the conversation!
For more questions, please see the FAQ.
We would love those who may not work with LibGuides on a daily basis to participate, as we are journeying through this critical pedagogy together. We value all perspectives to come together.
- If you haven't been to a review session before, please take some time to read both the rubric and the LibGuide, then use the rubric to think through the LibGuide that is being reviewed. Please use the tab with your name on it to make comments.
- The individualized rubric will be sent out a week before the review session to everyone participating.
If you have further questions about the rubric, check the FAQ or contact Jaime, Sarah, Russ, Laura or Mark.
- Please have already participated in a session as a reviewee before your LibGuide gets reviewed.
- Please do not feel any obligation to make your LibGuide perfect for review: the purpose of these sessions is to help, and the conversation may point you to a certain direction. Editing it beforehand would simply double the work for you!
- Please do not edit your LibGuide during the 7 days of it being reviewed.
- There's no need to prepare anything for the session, but it may help to keep in mind your audience, your outreach, and your original purpose of the LibGuide.
Scholar Representation by Race
This box is an example of a tool of transparency used in our LibGuides.
Check the FAQ for any questions pertaining to this tool.
Scholar Representation by Race
This tally acknowledges the white supremacy in scholarship: the numbers indicate the racial representation of the scholars listed in this LibGuide.
Black Scholars: 4 Indigenous Scholars: 2 Latinx Scholars: 3 APID(A) Scholars: 3 Other Identifying Scholars: 0 White Scholars: 8
You will find this on many of our LibGuides, as a system to keep us accountable in looking at the racial diversity of the sources we provide. These sources have been selected based upon research for the Kennedy Library's Digital Publishing Project.