By Linda Hauck

One of the favorite parts of my job is to support students in their search for data and statistics. Some students needs are met by a quick search in Statista, a database that aggregates data and statistics on a wide range of topics or a smart google search employing filetype:xls or site:.gov. These quick solutions are satisfying, for sure, but the real fun happens when students need multiple datasets for data analysis, or a research methods project.

To help these students, I start the conversation by asking about their topic and how they envision using data. We talk about their ideal dataset keeping in mind how it might be generated, who is likely to collect the data, what frequency, granularity, time period, populations, and geographies are needed. If there is an agency or organization that is obviously most likely to compile the idea dataset, it makes sense to start there. If not, doing a scholarly literature review and focusing on the data or methods section of papers will point to potential sources.

This data exploration process can be time consuming but fun!

Grace Liu, Business Librarian at West Chester University, with the advice of Bobray Bordelon, Economics & Finance Librarian/Data Services Librarian at Princeton University distilled the process in this neat infographic.

Linda Hauck, MLS, MBA is Business Librarian at Falvey Library.

Calling all first year students! “Research experience” is a key phrase that employers are looking for on resumes. The Match Research Program can get you this experience and help you stand out! Apply now!

The Villanova Match Research Program provides opportunities for motivated first year undergraduates to pursue undergraduate research in their first spring semester.

Those who apply and are selected will begin collaborating with a faculty mentor this Spring semester, for 10 hours a week, over 10 weeks, and will earn a $1,000 stipend.  No prior research experience is needed to apply! You can apply to multiple research projects and to projects that are outside of your major(s), too. The deadline to apply is Friday, Nov. 11, 2022 at 11:59 p.m., so act quickly!

Students are invited to check out the projects they might like to work on here.

Reach out to CRF with questions here!: crfresearch@villanova.edu

Students are also invited to chat with Falvey’s First Year Experience and Humanities Librarian, Rob LeBlanc for any related-research needs.

Welcome back, Cats! As you settle into the fall semester, be sure to reach out to your subject librarian. Whether you’re working on a research project or looking for some assistance with library services, Falvey librarians are here to help! Not sure which librarian to contact? Email ref@villanova.edu or fill out this form.

Nicole Daly

Subject Specialization: Communication, Sociology and Criminology

Phone: 610-519-5207

Email: nicole.daly@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 225

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/nicole-daly

Nikolaus Fogle

Subject Specialization: Philosophy

Phone: 610-519-5182

Email: nikolaus.fogle@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 227

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/nikolaus-fogle

Alfred Fry 

Subject Specialization: Engineering, Nursing, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics and Statistics, Computer Science

Phone: 610-519-4283

Email: alfred.fry@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 224

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/alfred-fry

Linda Hauck 

Subject Specialization: Business, Human Resource Development

Phone: 610-519-8744

Email: linda.hauck@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 222

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/linda-hauck

Erica Hayes 

Subject Specialization: Digital Scholarship, Digital Humanities

Phone: 610-519-5391

Email: erica.hayes@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 218B

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/erica-hayes

Sarah Hughes

Subject Specialization: Nursing, Biology, Health Sciences

Phone: 610-519-8129

Email: sarah.hughes@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 220

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/sarah-hughes

Robert LeBlanc 

Subject Specialization: ACS, First-Year Experience

Phone: 610-519-7778

Email: robert.leblanc@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 226

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/robert-leblanc

Laurie Ortiz Rivera

Subject Specialization: History, Art History, Education & Counseling

Phone: 610-519-3907

Email: laurie.ortizrivera@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 229

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/laurie-ortiz

Darren Poley

Subject Specialization: Theology & Religious Studies, Humanities & Classical Studies

Phone: 610-519-6371

Email: darren.poley@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 230

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/darren-poley

Jutta Seibert

Subject Specialization: Global Interdisciplinary Studies

Phone: 610-519-7876

Email: jutta.seibert@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 228

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/jutta-seibert

Merrill Stein

Subject Specialization: Political Science, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Public Admin., Naval Science and Geography & the Environment

Phone: 610-519-4272

Email: merrill.stein@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 221

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/merrill-stein

Sarah Wingo

Subject Specialization: English Literature, Theatre and Romance Languages & Literature

Phone: 610-519-5183

Email: sarah.wingo@villanova.edu

Office: Falvey 223

Make an Appointment: https://library.appointlet.com/b/sarah-wingo

By Shawn Proctor

National Nursing Week, May 6–12, celebrates and honors the sacrifices and many contributions of nurses to improving and saving lives. At Falvey Library, Sarah Hughes, Librarian for Nursing, Biology, and Health Sciences, supports the academic and research efforts of the students in the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing as they join the proud tradition of Villanova nurses.

We sat down with Hughes to learn more about her work with nurses, before and after joining Villanova University in 2019.

Question: Your experience working in the emergency department at University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro gave you insight into the role of nurses in that clinical setting. Can you tell me more about the work and challenges of those nurses?

Sarah Hughes: At Princeton Medical Center, I worked with nurses as both a medical librarian, but also in a separate role when I worked evenings at the emergency department (ED) assisting the front desk, basically as a glorified greeter. In both roles, I saw different sides to the nursing profession.

As a librarian, I helped with information-seeking behavior, mostly many of the nurses came to the library to get access to BLS, PALS, and ACLS books for recertification. I also did searches for nurses and doctors, provided patients with consumer health information, interlibrary loan services and maintained the nursing intranet page.

Working in the ED in a non-clinical role, but observing clinical practice really helped me to fully appreciate and understand what nurses do. I observed the triage process for the ED and also helped patients and family while they waited to be seen. Inside the ED, I watched first hand as nurses worked doing a variety of life saving measures including resuscitating patients, treating children that came in with significant burns, bedside assistance, and all sorts of things that the average person will never see with their own eyes.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, my immediate first thought was with the nurses and other ED workers because their jobs were tough to start with, but the added layer of working through a highly contagious, deadly, airborne virus day in and out was simply unthinkable. The horrors that health care providers have seen over the past years is simply incalculable. Many nurses have chosen to leave the profession due to burnout and unsafe working conditions. Others have chosen to take early retirement because they were exhausted from seeing so much sadness and death.

This is why I personally choose to continue to masking indoors at all times in public, because I don’t want nurses to continue working through this pandemic forever. To me, masking is the most responsible thing a person can do in this moment. I mask to not only protect myself, but for all the nurses and healthcare workers out there.

Q: How would you describe Villanova’s nursing students and your work with them?

SH: I’ve found all students in Villanova nursing to be incredibly dedicated and hardworking. From the undergraduates to the DNP and PhD students, the vast majority of students are serious about their studies and ask me wonderful questions every day.

I tend to be involved early on in the NUR1102 course pointing students towards Falvey Library resources like CINAHL and PubMed for finding credible, peer-reviewed information. I come back again to the undergraduates in the Research Methods class and cover more advance searching and review things like PRISMA charting and use of citation management tools like Zotero. And I’m more deeply involved with long one-on-one research consultations with students in several of the higher level courses.

Asking the right research question and framing it in such a way is highly important to retrieve appropriate search results. I spend time also getting students familiar with citation management tools like Zotero, particularly if students are doing extensive searching and need to organize their search results for publication or group projects.

Q: Why is celebrating nurses and their work during Nurses Week important?

SH: National Nurses Week is an essential celebration and acknowledgement of those in the profession. It’s important to honor the varying roles of nurses and all the ways they make a difference in the different communities they serve. Since many nurses are struggling right now with what they have endured during the pandemic, it is more important than ever that they are commended and provided with safer working conditions in hospitals and health care settings.

These nurses must be recognized for their efforts, and it is imperative that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration implement a permanent safety standard for hospital and healthcare settings to protect our vitally important nurses and healthcare workers. Nurses are highly trained and skilled workers that tend to be in short supply, so it is vital they have a safe environment.

Q: You joined Falvey Library about 6 months before the pandemic. How has your way of engaging students during this time changed? Are there takeaways or practices that you would continue in the years beyond?

SH: I got to have one fully pre-pandemic semester so I had a glimpse of what “normal” was like. The majority of my research consults were conducted virtually on Zoom, even before the pandemic so not all that much has changed. It’s often easier to demonstrate searching techniques on a Zoom meeting than in person, so the student can observe what I do when I share my screen. Or conversely, I can watch what a student is doing and then take control of the screen if they have questions or cannot locate something right away. I also find virtual instruction sessions to be more conducive to online as well, since again students can watch and mirror my actions. We are fortunate to have such technology that allows for virtual instruction and meeting online when it is not safe to be together.

Students who wish to schedule a nursing, biology, or health sciences consultation, visit Sarah Hughes’ staff page or email sarah.hughes@villanova.edu.

Shawn Proctor is Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Library.

Join Falvey Memorial Library for the 2022 Digital Seeds Speaker Series. The speaker series provides opportunities for Villanova faculty, staff, and students to learn more about digital scholarship and research at the intersection of social science, humanities computing, and data science. For more on digital scholarship at Falvey Memorial Library click here.

These ACS-approved events, co-sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library and the Albert Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest, are free and open to the public.

Matthew Bui, PhD, on “Toward Urban Data Justice: Auditing the Racial Politics of Data”

Thursday, March 24 at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom 

What is the role of (open and big) data in enacting, facilitating, and/or limiting racial justice within an increasingly datafied society? This talk explores the relationship between marginalized communities of color and data, foregrounding questions about power, inequality, and justice.

First, Bui will briefly touch on a study that proposes a typology of community-based engagements with, and disengagements from, data for racial justice: namely, data use, re-use, and refusal. Building on this work and considering the politics of data re-use and refusal to keep powerful actors accountable, Bui will discuss in detail a second longer-term project exploring questions of algorithmic accountability and the predatory nature of data-driven systems: specifically, a study that aims to audit and examine online targeted ads as racially discriminatory by nature.

In all, this work theorizes and conceptualizes “urban data justice” as a community-engaged vision and reparative praxis in response to what Bui and his team are conceptualizing as “algorithmic discrimination”. In all, he asks: how do we tell stories with—and about—data? Who benefits from dominant narratives? How can we subvert unequal power relations within—and of—data? What new methods, frameworks, and language do we need for these endeavors?

REGISTER HERE

Speaker Biography:

Matthew Bui (he/him), PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher and incoming assistant professor (starting Fall 2022) at the University of Michigan School of Information. He also holds faculty affiliations with the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and NYU Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies. Bui’s research examines the potential for, and barriers to, urban data justice, foregrounding the racial politics of data-driven technologies, policy, and platforms. He is currently leading a study about racial discrimination and targeted ads and launching a new project that explores how entrepreneurs of color navigate algorithmic bias. His research has received recognition and support from the Annenberg Foundation, Benton Foundation, Democracy F¬¬und, and Kauffman Foundation; and the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC).

Previously, Bui was a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Tech and received his PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He also holds graduate certification in geographic information science, an MSc in Media and Communication Research from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

David R. Ambaras, PhD, and Kate McDonald, PhD on “Bodies and Structures 2.0: Scalar and the Practice of Digital Spatial History” 

Thursday, March 31 at 4:00 p.m. via Zoom 

The fundamental intervention of spatial humanistic scholarship is the notion that space is multi-vocal — that places are made up of layers of meaning and history; that layers of place produce distinct geographic footprints and sets of spatial relationships; and that one’s social-historical positionality or “body” shapes how one encounters particular spatial “structures.” Launched in 2021, Bodies and Structures 2.0 examines the dynamics of place- and space-making in modern East Asia. In this presentation, we will discuss how we developed Bodies and Structures 2.0’s unique combination of individually-authored modules and collectively-curated conceptual maps and visualizations and how we used the open-source Scalar platform to build our multivocal project.

REGISTER HERE

Speakers’ Biographies: 

Kate McDonald, PhD, is Associate Professor of Modern Japanese History at the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-director of the Bodies and Structures: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian History project. She is the author of Placing Empire: Travel and the Social Imagination in Imperial Japan (California, 2017) and currently serves as the Associate Editor for Japan at the Journal of Asian Studies.

David Ambaras, PhD, is a Professor of History at North Carolina State University. His research explores the social history of modern Japan and its empire, particularly through a focus on transgression and marginality. He is the author of Japan’s Imperial Underworlds: Intimate Encounters at the Borders of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2018); Bad Youth: Juvenile Delinquency and the Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2006); and articles and book chapters on class formation, urban space, wartime mobilization, and ethnic intermarriage. He is the co-director of the digital project Bodies and Structures: Deep-mapping Modern East Asian History. Ambaras holds a PhD from Princeton University, and degrees from the University of Tokyo, the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Paris), and Columbia University. He is recipient of fellowships from the National Humanities Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Feel free to reach out to Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian, with any questions you might have!

The 2022 Villanova University Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition finalists. Photo courtesy of Kallie Stahl.

Congratulations to the 2022 Villanova University Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition finalists. Villanova graduate and doctoral students presented their research in three minutes to a live audience and panel of judges in the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, Feb. 18.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. 

Join us for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition on Friday, Feb. 18, in the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts. The main event will take place from 3-5 p.m. and the reception will take place from 5-6 p.m.

What is a 3MT competition? Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a competition for master’s and doctoral students to develop and showcase their research communication skills. Developed by The University of Queensland, 3MT cultivates students’ academic, professional, presentation and research communication skills. To be successful, competitors must effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

A panel of judges will select a first-place winner ($1,000 award), a second-place winner ($500 award), and audience members in attendance will select an audience choice winner ($250 award). In addition, the first-place winner of Villanova’s 3MT competition will be entered into the regional 3MT competition for the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools.

This event, sponsored by the Graduate Programs in CLAS, COE, FCON, VSB, and Falvey Memorial Library, is free and open to the public. For more information about 3MT, please visit the 3MT website.

Grab your tickets to the competition here (there is no cost to attend the event).

The 32nd annual Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS) Conference will take place on Friday, March 25 at Villanova University. Looking to showcase your work? Villanova graduates and undergraduates may submit papers or alternative forms of expression (poetry, performances, films, etc.) by Friday, February 11. Applicant’s work must engage gender, sexuality, or feminist theories. All papers must have been written during spring or fall 2020, 2021  (or written specifically for the GWS conference). Scholars can submit their work in one of the following three categories:

1. Papers or creative works by first year undergraduates (4-10 pages)
2. Papers or creative works by sophomores, juniors, and seniors (5-20 pages)
3. Papers or creative works by graduate students (12-30 pages)

View full submission guidelines here. Questions? Email gws@villanova.edu. For the latest updates on the 2022 GWS conference visit the program webpage.

Looking for more GWS resources? Explore the GWS research guide or contact Jutta Seibert, Director of Research Services & Scholarly Engagement, GWS Librarian, for a research consultation.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

Geography Awareness Week begins Monday, Nov. 15. Established by a presidential proclamation more than 25 years ago, National Geographic created the annual public awareness program to demonstrate the importance of geography. From National Geographic: too many people are “unable to make effective decisions, understand geo-spatial issues, or even recognize their impacts as global citizens.” Aiming to raise awareness of these issues, more than 10,000 Americans participate in Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 15—Friday, Nov. 19) annually. Join Falvey Memorial Library, the Department of Geography and the Environment, the Department of History, and Gamma Theta Upsilon (GTU) for these Geography Awareness Week events:

Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster Display (Monday, Nov. 15–Friday, Nov. 19)

Falvey Memorial Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab and Room 205; 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Please visit Falvey Memorial Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab and Room 205 to view student posters from the Villanova Student Undergraduate Research Symposium. Check out Falvey Memorial Library’s blog to view daily posts from current and former GEV students on their past GIS mapping and geography projects!

Falvey Forum: Creating Interactive GIS Maps with Leaflet and R (Wednesday, Nov. 17)

Virtual Workshop; 12:30–1:30 p.m. 

Join Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 12:30–1:30 p.m. for a virtual workshop entitled “Creating Interactive GIS Maps with Leaflet and R.” You’ve likely used ArcGIS Online to display maps online, but have you considered using free and open-source tools for web mapping? Leaflet is one of the most popular open-source JavaScript libraries for creating interactive maps. Here’s an example Interactive Map Tracking Charges & Enforcement Related to Covid-19 created with Leaflet by two researchers in Canada. This workshop will introduce you to Leaflet for R (a statistical programming language), an R package, which makes it easier to integrate and control Leaflet maps.

REGISTER HERE. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants one day prior to the workshop.

GIS Day Lecture: Signe Peterson Fourmy, JD, PhD, Villanova University, on “Digital Mapping & Last Seen Ads”  (Wednesday, Nov. 17)

Virtual Workshop; 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Please join us virtually on Wednesday Nov. 17, 5:30–6:30 p.m. as Signe Peterson Fourmy, JD, PhD, Director of Research and Analysis of the “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery” digital humanities project, will be discussing mapping the ads of formerly enslaved people after emancipation.

Formerly enslaved people placed thousands of “Last Seen” ads in newspapers after emancipation searching for family and friends. By mapping these ads, the “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery” project makes visible the forced dislocations that not only reflect the personal loss and trauma of slavery but also the geographic impact of the Domestic Slave Trade and post-emancipation migration. This interactive GIS mapping feature of the project allows users to visualize how this displacement affected individuals, when they and their loved ones were sold, and to explore the origins of those who formed post-war Black communities.

Biography:

Signe Peterson Fourmy earned her JD from the University of Houston Law Center in 2001 and her PhD in History at the University of Texas at Austin in 2020. Currently, she serves as the Director of Research and Analysis at Villanova University for the digital humanities project, “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery.” She is also a lecturer in the Department of History at UT Austin.

REGISTER HERE. 

GTU Honor Society Talk & GEV Colloquium Lecture: Gordon Coonfield, PhD, on “How Neighborhoods Remember: Mapping Memory and Making Place in Philadelphia” (Thursday, Nov. 18)

Mendel Science Center, Room 154 and Virtual Livestream; 5:30–6:30 p.m. 

Join us on Thursday, Nov. 18, 5:30–6:30 p.m. in Mendel Room 154 or register virtually as Gordon Coonfield, PhD, Department of Communication and Media Studies will be discussing his mapping project: Kensington Remembers.

Biography:

Gordon Coonfield, PhD, Associate Professor of Communication at Villanova, utilizes multimedia to document the ways in which changes to the built environment impact cultures of memory. His Kensington Remembers project incorporates story mapping, photography, and ethnographic writing to explore vernacular memorial sites in one of Philadelphia’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

 REGISTER HERE.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

Join the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) for the Graduate Student Research Symposium on Friday, Nov. 12, from 1-4 p.m. Oral presentations will begin at 1 p.m. in the Connelly Center Cinema. Poster presentations will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the St. David’s Room.

Each year, graduate students in CLAS submit proposals for the Graduate Summer Research Fellowship. This event highlights the recipients of the 2021 fellowship. Student projects encompass a wide range of scholarship from various disciplines including theology, English, philosophy, psychology, biology, history, math, chemistry, counseling, environmental science, and software engineering.

Students will present their research with a poster or a Three Minute Thesis-style oral presentation. For a full list of presenters, check out the symposium program.

Be sure to stop by and see the innovative research being conducted by graduate students in CLAS.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.