Reflecting on a Year of Library Teaching

The Boston College Libraries remain active partners in instruction across disciplines.

This year the Boston College Libraries have continued to provide an extensive and varied instruction program. From sessions as part of the First Year Writing Seminar to specialized sessions for graduate courses, librarians have offered over 400 instructions sessions that reached a total of over 8,600 attendees since last fall. First Year Writing Seminar accounted for approximately 15% of the sessions and the rest spanned a wide range of other disciplines.

A chart showing when the most sessions are offered

Though the Fall semester is still our busiest time for instruction sessions, this Spring we offered over 200 sessions to a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and PhD audiences as well as several training sessions for faculty. In many cases, library instruction is embedded directly into the course session, but over the course of the year we also offered over 100 sessions in O’Neill Library’s classroom spaces as well as some sessions online. Burns Library staff continued to be important players in our instruction program, offering over 60 sessions this Spring in Burns Library. These sessions allow students a hands-on approach to work with unique materials that the library has to offer.

Librarian instructing a student

As always, our instruction sessions also touch on a broad number of information literacy topics, from defining basic research topics, critically thinking about appropriate sources and evaluation  as well as the use of data and GIS tools and resources. If you are interested in adding a library instruction component to your course or would like to know more about our instruction program, please contact your subject librarian for more information.

Piechart breaking down the topics taught in instruction sessions

Newly Digitized Special Collections

The flow of digitized special collections content comes in a steady stream; here’s what’s new.

Handwritten diary
Diary entry, 1917 April 2. Thomas D. Craven papers, BC.2004.121, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

The BC Libraries continually select material from our collections to digitize for increased use locally and globally. Among the content recently launched online are personal diaries, Japanese prints, and published works from the holdings of John J. Burns Library.

The diaries are unpublished primary sources that reflect the personal experiences of the diarists. These are excellent for research in numerous disciplines, and digital versions could be incorporated into digital humanities projects.

  • Thomas Henry Lyon papers includes two diaries (1842 and 1846-1849) of a British naval officer. The travelogues record information about Lyon’s sea voyages from England to Africa, Borneo, China, and Egypt. To learn more, read a blog post describing entries on the first Opium War of 1842, view the catalog record, or consult the collection inventory or “finding aid.” Don’t forget to explore the diaries in their entirety yourself: 1842 and 1846-1849.
  • Mary Johanna Rhodes Wild diary, dated 1845-1865, details her daily life in Brookline, Massachusetts. Wild discusses housekeeping, finances, and marital discord, as well as reading, travels, and her friends and family. More information is in the catalog record, and the diary itself.
  • Fred Wilton Russell diary covers the young American’s travels in Europe while on the Grand Tour. It includes notes on his stays in Paris and at a school in Plauen, Germany, and his trips to spas in Carlsbad and Franzenbad. Entries date from 1875-1876. The diary is described in the catalog record and fully digitized.
  • Thomas D. Craven papers include a single diary covering the spring semester of the BC senior and his induction into the Army Air Corps Medical Corps in 1917. The collection is described in the catalog record and finding aid, and the diary can be found online.

Burns Library’s collection of Japanese prints, described by our 2013-14 Bookbuilders of Boston intern Erin Furlong and featured in a touch table exhibit by 2016-17 ARL/SAA Mosaic fellow Ayoola White, contains artwork from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries. Many of these prints have been imaged and posted online. See the description of the whole collection in the catalog and finding aid, but be sure to explore the newly-available images.

An illustration of a hill by the sea.
Andō, Hiroshige. Mount Kaso in Kazusa Province from the series Wrestling Matches between Mountains and Seas. 1858. Japanese Prints Collection, MS.2013.043, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Lastly, special collections published materials are being made available online as well. One could look for them in our Internet Archive feed, which is a gathering of digitized publications from both circulating and non-circulating collections. A few recent highlights are these from the Burns Library’s Boston collection related to — and opposing! — women’s right to vote:

  • Leonard, Clara T., Lothrop, Thornton Kirkland, and Massachusetts. General Court. Committee on Woman Suffrage. Letter from Mrs. Clara T. Leonard. Boston: Massachusetts Association Opposed to Further Extension of Suffrage to Woman, 1884. See the catalog record and online version.
  • The Vote of Massachusetts on Municipal Suffrage for Women at the State Election, November 5, 1895. [publisher Not Identified], 1895. Found in the Library Catalog and online.
  • Saunders, Charles R., and Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women. Taxpaying Suffrage: Letter from Mr. Charles R. Saunders. Boston: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1903. Read more in the catalog record and digitized version.
  • Of What Benefit to Woman? Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1910. Find it in the Library Catalog and fully online.
The first page of a book
Of What Benefit to Woman? Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women, 1910.

The flow of digitized content is steady; consult the catalog or browse BC Libraries Special Collections Online and our Internet Archive feed to see what’s new. Check in with Burns Library staff, your subject librarian, or a Digital Scholarship team member for help with online research and new digital analysis methods.

Good Vibes in O’Neill Library

BC Libraries and the Connors Family Learning Center have begun to team up near the end of each semester for a night of programs to help students gear up for final projects.

O’Neill Library’s Reading Room is ordinarily so quiet you can hear someone turn a page from thirty paces, but on the evening of Wednesday, April 19 this Spring there was a low but energetic buzz of conversation punctuated by “Awwww’s” of delight at the end of a trail of paper footprints, where students rubbed the soft ears of a golden retriever named Jackson.  BC Library’s Anti-All-Nighter (subtitle: A Night Against Procrastination) co-sponsored by BC Libraries and the Connors Family Learning Center (CFLC), brought library, CFLC, and ITS Help staff together with students in a relaxed environment that ran from 8pm to midnight.

A group of students lining up for coffee and cookies
A horde descends on coffee and cookies at 9:30.

“We wanted an event to help students focus for the final push toward end-of-semester projects,” said one of the planners. “To help get them moving on end-of-semester projects (hence, ‘against procrastination’) but also to help defray tension.” This was the third such event, after the initial one in Spring 2016 and a follow-up in the Fall. Brief onsite surveys confirm what seemed obvious during the evening: students loved it. The most common refrain: “More!”

Two students absorb relaxing vibes from Jackson, a therapy dog.
Two students absorb relaxing vibes from Jackson, a therapy dog.

One student arriving at the event was overheard saying, “Look! People are actually happy!” There was a range of activities to encompass a broad spectrum of interests both in getting assistance for study–writing tutors and an academic coach from the CFLC, staff from ITS Help, and research librarians–and in breaks from study: creative outlets (coloring, button-making, and an electronic keyboard), items for play (games and serial TV shows on DVD’s), activities for relaxation and mindfulness (such as yoga, provided through the Plex) and of course the therapy dogs. And coffee.

A student receiving a chair massage
Michelle Newman (of Healing by Movement, Newton) provided over 35 chair massages.

The coordinating team included Steve Runge, Carli Spina, Rodrigo Castro, and Cindy Frueh of  BC Libraries, and Ildi Szekely and Kathy Duggan of the CFLC. Both Enid Karr and Chelcie Rowell of BC Libraries were on hand for research assistance, and Charles Clements and Dominic Scheuring of the CFLC provided writing tutoring. Mark Gately and several Eagle Techs (undergraduate student employees) from ITS Help were on hand for technical assistance. The library hired Michelle Newman of Healing Movement in Newton for chair massages, and Chris Cataldo of the Plex for yoga instruction. Therapy dogs were brought by volunteers from Therapy Dogs International, who has been providing BC students (and staff & faculty!) with canine love for several years.

A dozen students take a 30-minute chair yoga break in a circle.
A dozen students take a 30-minute “chair yoga” break, learning techniques they can employ for their own short study breaks.

By midnight, all the coffee was gone, most of the staff had sleepily departed, and many tables had returned to being study space. A few students putting finishing touches on buttons got a reprieve; a staff member let them finish while he put away other activity materials. The rest of the library looked much as it always does at midnight: but for the lack of sun, the same number of students hard at work as any Tuesday morning at 10am: about ⅓ full.

Chelcie Rowell,  Digital Scholarship Librarian and History Bibliographer, sitting at a table offering research assistance.
Chelcie Rowell, History Librarian, ready to provide research help.
A coloring book in progress.
More and more colors appeared throughout the night.
A student sits at a desk playing a keyboard.
A student unwinds with music.
Students make pins at a table.
Students make buttons and chat at one of the most convivial activities.

Increase Your Visibility with ORCID

Use ORCID at BC to distinguish yourself from others, claim your work and build a visible online presence.

ORCID at BC was launched in May, with a strong endorsement from David Quigley, Tom Wall and Michael Bourque. They announced the initiative and invited faculty to use our new application to create an ORCID ID and link it to their BC ID number, which is easy to do at bc.edu/orcid. This option is available to all faculty, staff and students, and is available in the Agora portal under Other Services.

ORCID Connecting Research and Researchers

Your ORCID ID can help you ensure that all of your work is properly attributed to you, and help other scholars find all of your scholarly output with a single click. When you register for an ORCID ID (a process that takes about one minute), you will receive a unique identifier. This ID will:

  • Serve as a unique, persistent identifier for you throughout your career, even if you change your name.
  • Distinguish your work from others’ in the field
  • Allow you to create a profile that connects all of your publications, articles, datasets, and other scholarly outputs with your ID
  • Streamline submissions to publishers, grant funders, and associations, which increasingly integrate ORCIDs and send data to your profile
  • Automate annual reporting in systems that offer ORCID integration, such as Faculty 180 (coming soon!)
  • Give you control over what is made public, private, or available only to trusted parties

Once you have registered for an ORCID you can sign in at orcid.org, build your profile and use it to raise the visibility of your work. You can also link your BC single sign-in credentials so that you can use them to log in to ORCID.

Enter your ORCID when submitting publications and grant applications; the publisher or funder will add the ORCID to the publication itself and push information about the article or successful grant to your profile. Import information about your past publications from Scopus, CrossRef and other databases.

Add the link to your ORCID profile to your webpage, faculty profile, email signature, CV, and other publications and presentations. One click will bring researchers and potential collaborators to your list of works. The more you use the ORCID ID, the more it enhances your visibility.

Since its launch, the uptake by full-time faculty has been steady. From May 3 to May 18, approximately 150 of full-time faculty have created an ORCID ID or linked an existing one to their BC ID.

Faculty Adoption Summary
ORCID at BC faculty registration by top departments, May 3 -18

More information about ORCID and the ORCID at BC initiative is available on our ORCID at BC Guide.

Ask the Answer Wall

A fun new way to ask questions debuts at O’Neill Library.

This past semester, the Boston College Libraries launched the Answer Wall. Located in a high-traffic area near our main stairs, this wall space is an area for students to post anonymous questions on post-it notes on everything from meaning of life (a recurring question) to how students can access library resources and technology. Though many of the questions are light-hearted or pertain to pop culture topics, the Answer Wall has also attracted a number of substantive reference questions and a number of questions on mental and emotional health topics. A dedicated team of library staff members split up the responsibility of responding to these questions each day in the persona of the Wall and so far they’ve responded to over 350 questions, including several in foreign languages. Wherever possible, answers include suggested library resources on the question’s topic or referrals to relevant on-campus services. Curious readers who don’t visit O’Neill Library regularly can follow along on the Answer Wall’s blog or watch for periodic posts of some questions on the Library’s social media pages.

A student looks at the Answer Wall, covering in Post-its

The Answer Wall has proved popular not just in terms of the number of questions. It has been covered by a number of campus publications, including The Heights and The Gavel. Interest doesn’t seem to be tapering off either. Though the number of questions we receive varies widely by day, at the end of the semester we were seeing as many as 11 questions a day, with one recent weekend generating 19 questions that were answered on Monday. And in addition to all of these questions we’ve gotten plenty of post-its full of praise, suggesting that those who walk by are enjoying this new avenue for getting answers. The Answer Wall also spawned an end-of-semester book display that featured a number of resources that were recommended in Answer Wall responses or related to questions that we received.

A book display that reads Answer Wall Recommended eading

So far, the Answer Wall has proven to be a fascinating look into student life and a great way of getting a sense of what our patrons are curious about. It has also been a great new way to connect people with BC resources, both within the library and throughout campus. Hopefully it will remain popular for years to come!

Celebrating 2017 GIS Contest Winners

Boston College Libraries proudly awarded prizes for the 8th Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Poster Contest, April 26th, 2017 in the lobby of the O’Neill Library.

Boston College Libraries proudly awarded prizes for the 8th Annual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Poster Contest, April 26th, 2017 in the lobby of the O’Neill Library.

This event highlights the ongoing library initiative to engage students in the use of GIS as an essential tool for research and data visualization. The contest is an opportunity to  meet and encourage  the talented, enthusiastic students as we recognize their research in topics such as environmental changes, food security and health issues.

The first place awards of a $100 Amazon Gift Card went to:

Samantha Dow, Geology/MCAS, graduate prize: “Mapping channel changes in glacial and legacy sediment reaches of the South River”.
Mary Stack, Geology/MCAS, undergraduate prize: “Farmer’s Markets in Massachusetts”.

 Library Director, Tom Wall congratulates undergraduate Mary Stack, 1st prize winner. (Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)
Library Director, Tom Wall congratulates undergraduate Mary Stack, 1st prize winner.
(Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)
Scott Britton, AUL Public Services, with graduate winners Samantha Dow, 1st prize, and Shan Shan, 2nd prize. (Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)
Scott Britton, AUL Public Services, with graduate winners Samantha Dow, 1st prize, and Shan Shan, 2nd prize.
(Photo: Kevin Tringale, Exhibits Specialist)

The second place awards of a $50 Amazon Gift Card, went to:

Shan Shan, Sociology/MCAS, graduate prize: “Inquiring and Visualizing Large-Scale Space: Placing China’s Changing Urban Hierarchy from 1985 to 2010 Into Spatial System”.
Theresa L Rager, Biology/MCAS, undergraduate prize: ”Failing Provisions and Failing Hearts: The association between grocery store access and cardiovascular disease”.

The third place awards of a $25 Amazon Gift Card went to:

Rachel Piccolino, Psychology/MCAS, co-winner undergraduate prize: “Impact of Sexual Education on HPV Vaccination Rates”.
Lesley Lopez, Sociology/MCAS, co-winner undergraduate prize: “Smoking and Stroke Prevalence across the United States”.

Awards were based on map quality, use of GIS as a research tool and originality. Special consideration was given to topics depicting social implications of the research such as environmental issues.

Past winning posters can be found in the university Institutional Repository: eScholarship@BC, under the category Juried Student Work. The entries of our newest winners will join this distinguished group.

We ask faculty to encourage their students to enter next year’s contest. Look for details on GIS Day, which will be November 15th, 2017.

Our thanks go to contest judges: Rudolph Hon, Associate Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Constantin Andronache, Research Associate, Research Services, ITS, Enid Karr, Science Librarian and Barbara Mento, Data/GIS Librarian.

Selected Recent Acquisitions Purchased with Boston College Library Endowment Funds With Thanks to Our Donors

Early Arabic Printed Books from the British Library: Sciences, History & Geography (Gale)
A full-text, searchable, digital trove of early printed books in Arabic script, so that Boston College scholars no longer need to travel to London or Cairo to consult the original resources included. Purchase Funded by The Vincent A. Wasik Family Library Fund and The National Endowment for the Humanities Library Endowment
For more information:  Chelcie Rowell, Digital Scholarship Librarian and History Liaison, O’Neill Library, and Kimberly Kowal, Associate University Librarian for Digital Initiatives and Services, O’Neill Library

Citation Connection Databases Added to Web of Science Platform (Clarivate, formerly Thomson-Reuters)
Book Citation Index, Data Citation Index, Biosis Citation Index, Derwent Innovations Index, Current Chemical Reactions and Zoological Record and others. Purchase Funded by The Josephine E. Chiles ’03 Library Fund, The Grace C. Elbery Library Fund, The Class of 1927 Book Fund, The Class of 1933 Book Fund, The Class of 1934 Book Fund, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Endowment Fund.
For more information:  Sally Wyman, Head of Collection Development and Research Services, O’Neill Library

Latin American Newspapers, 1805-1922 (Readex)
Part of the World Newspaper Archive Collection, this title offers access to historic newspapers from more than 20 Latin American countries in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The newspapers are full-text and include editorials, obituaries, poetry, advertisements and more.  Purchase Funded by The Rubin and Sarah Garber Library Fund and The Yen-Tsai Feng-McNi Book Fund
For more information:  Julia Hughes, Bibliographer for African and African Diaspora Studies, Asian Studies, Government Documents, Islamic Civilization and Societies, Latin American Studies and PoliticalScience, O’Neill Library

International Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2nd ed.
Demography, behavior, ethics, methods and much more, this interdisciplinary resource benefits the new Global Public Health Program at Boston College, as well as courses offered by the Connell School of Nursing and the School of Social Work.
Purchase Funded by The Pope John XXI Library Fund
For more information:  Wanda Anderson, Nursing Librarian, O’Neill Library

Irish Women Rising: Gender and Politics in Revolutionary Ireland, 1900-1923 On exhibit at Burns Library through March 25

Introduction to a Burns Library exhibit exploring Irish women activists and their cultural contexts.

At Burns Library, commemorations of the Irish Rebellion of 1916 began early in 2016. The acquisition of the Loretta Clarke Murray collection, which provides a unique perspective of the Irish nationalist movement through the eyes and words of female activists, along with the Thomas and Kathleen Daly Clarke papers lent significant impetus to create an exhibit based on women’s involvement in the revolutionary period, 1900-1923.

Items on display reflect issues and events leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916, the ensuing Anglo-Irish War, and the Civil War that took place after the much contested 1921 Treaty with England. A handwritten journal from Margaret Skinnider, a combatant in the Rising in Dublin, is featured, as are: two versions of the constitution of Cumann na mBan (Irish Women’s Council, a sister organization to the Irish Volunteers); memorabilia from activist groups such as Inghinidhe na hEireann (Daughters of Ireland), co-founded by Maud Gonne; and autograph books circulated by women who were imprisoned during the Civil War. Several brooches—some styled after the Tara brooch, another incorporating a rifle and the abbreviation for Cumann Na mBan—materially represent the organizations that arose during this period of cultural and political activism. A particular highlight is a large and colorful embroidered panel featuring the Four Jewels of Ireland that was designed and executed by Maud Gonne.

Burns Library, Maud Gonne Irish Banner, photographed for Boston College Magazine, Summer 2016 issue.
Photograph by Gary Gilbert

In the years leading up to 1916, Irish nationalists sought to create an independent identity for Ireland in opposition to British rule. Individuals and groups looked back to a perceived golden age in literature, visual arts, language, crafts, athletics, and folklore. A great sense of national pride drove their politics, and eventually led some to engage in violent rebellion. The cultural revival fed into the ideologies of rebellion leaders and those committed to following them. The language of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic issued on the eve of the Rising in April 1916 reflects the passionately patriotic mindset: “In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.” An original copy of the Proclamation, on loan from The Irish National Famine Museum in Strokestown, Ireland, is also on display thanks to support from the Irish Heritage Trust.

Two events have been held in conjunction with the exhibit. On November 18, collector Loretta Clarke Murray visited and was on hand for a reception and discussion co-sponsored by Burns Library and The Eire Society of Boston. The discussion, facilitated by Burns Visiting Scholar Louis de Paor and BC English professor Joe Nugent, focused on the continuing importance of the Irish language. On February 3, Lucy McDiarmid, the Marie Frazee-Baldassarre Professor of English at Montclair State University, gave a luncheon talk titled “Fairies, Rebels, and the Boundaries of the House in 1916” based on her award-winning study At Home in the Revolution: What Women Said and Did in 1916.

Inghinidhe na hEireann assembly, unknown photographer, 1908 (?). [Courtesy of Kilmainham Gaol Museum, 13PO-1B54-14]
Burns Library has continued to reach out to interested audiences by highlighting a few of the leading women of the Irish Rebellion in a series of entries on the John J. Burns Library blog. The posts have allowed us to provide more extensive information about these extraordinary women than could be contained in the exhibits panels and to reach those who cannot visit in person.

The exhibit has also offered students the opportunity to gain further insight into the time period. At least seven classes have visited the exhibit so far. Feedback from students and other visitors has been rich and varied.

Katherine Oksen, student assistant to Burns Library Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard helped to create mounts for items in the exhibit. Oksen wrote a blog post about the pieces of jewelry she worked on, and commented:

“The opportunity to be able to work on the Irish Women Rising Exhibit was rewarding in that it took elements of events that I had been learning about in my history class and expanded on it, while simultaneously zeroing in on the people my textbooks have tended to ignore. While it would be naive to declare that I can understand exactly what these women went through, I was given a fresh set of stories and materials to at least try to. I really loved having my work and my studies complement each other.”

Catherine McKenna, the Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University and department chair, remarked after bringing students from her “Ireland Rising” course to see the exhibit:

“[They] couldn’t stop talking … about the dozens of interesting things they’d seen and learned. And as for me, it was a revelation—Mollie Gill, Margaret Skinnider, about whom I’d known nothing at all…”

In addition to showing previously unknown documents and artifacts associated with prominent Irish women activists, the exhibit also brings to light roles played by lesser known women, thereby enriching our understanding of the significant but often overlooked contributions that hundreds of women made to Irish nationalist movements during the early decades of the twentieth century that ultimately led to independence from Great Britain and the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in 1949.

Irish Women Rising: Gender and Politics in Revolutionary Ireland, 1900-1923 will be on display at Burns Library through March 25, 2017.

Fireside Chat: Maintaining Community Throughout Difficult Conversations

Tom Wall hosts a conversation about the state of civil discourse at Boston College and beyond.

On Thursday, February 23rd, University Librarian Tom Wall hosted a fireside chat in the O’Neill Reading Room on Maintaining Community Throughout Difficult Conversations. This conversation engaged panelists Tom Mogan, Associate Vice President/Dean of Students; Vincent Rougeau, Dean of the Law School; and Anthony Penna, Associate Vice President of Mission and Ministry. The four campus leaders discussed the state of civil discourse in today’s society and the role that educators here at Boston College can have in improving communication and preparing students to participate productively in difficult conversations throughout their lives.

Coverage of "Fireside Chat" in the Reading Room of O'Neill Library. Topic of the Chat was "Mainatining Community Throughout Difficult Conversations". The event was hosted by Tom Wall, University Librarian, and speakers were: Dean Vincent Rougeau of the Law School; Tom Mogan, Assoc. VP and Dean of Students; and Fr. Tony Penna, VP for Mission and Ministry. Photographed for the 3/2 issue of Chronicle.

Tom Wall initiated the session by asking panelists about their respective experience of community at  Boston College and how they see it being challenged by the current political climate. Each of the speakers noted the strength of BC’s sense of community and the work  undertaken to strengthen this through personal interaction. Fr. Penna commented on how much the school has changed in the last 25 years and emphasized that the faster pace of life has contributed to many students existing in narrow “orbits” that might prevent them from developing the deepest possible sense of community. He advocated for stepping outside the comfort zones saying that “sometimes it is good to disrupt your orbit” whether you are a member of the faculty, a student, or a staff member.

This led the discussion to a perceived loss of the “art of listening” and the impact of social media on how conversations happen. Dean Rougeau noted that most students have never known a world without social media, which contributes to a sense that there is no down time and no opportunity to step away from the flow of content and pressure to respond. He noted that “It takes away critical aspects of human interaction – the ability and the responsibility to understand non-verbal communication and contextualize comments. Thinking before you speak.” He sees a role for faculty in helping students to learn other ways of engaging in conversation and communication. Dean Mogan observed that it can be difficult to reach students beyond a specific core group that may not normally engage with these types of topics. Fr. Penna mentioned trying to pull students out of social media to connect with people in person, but also noted that students find value and community in online spaces as well.

Coverage of "Fireside Chat" in the Reading Room of O'Neill Library. Topic of the Chat was "Mainatining Community Throughout Difficult Conversations". The event was hosted by Tom Wall, University Librarian, and speakers were: Dean Vincent Rougeau of the Law School; Tom Mogan, Assoc. VP and Dean of Students; and Fr. Tony Penna, VP for Mission and Ministry. Photographed for the 3/2 issue of Chronicle.

Tom Wall next raised the issue of how to tackle complex issues, which are often over-simplified online or encounter an anti-intellectualist pushback. Dean Rougeau noted that the anti-intellectualist current has a long history in the U.S. and that educators must work to give students the tools to think about and discuss controversial topics logically and rationally. Boston College offers opportunities for just this sort of development not only in the classroom, but also in extracurricular life as Dean Mogan noted. This led naturally into a discussion of objective truth and “fake news”, which everyone agreed is a difficult and timely problem that demands educators model shared practices in both finding reliable information and coming to shared understandings on complex and controversial topics. Finally Tom Wall asked about whether Boston College’s focus on student formation offers an opportunity to improve civil discourse. Dean Rougeau felt that this and Boston College’s religious foundation provides a strong set up values that can serve as a crucial basis of future development and growth throughout life.

The conversation ended with an opportunity for members of the audience to ask questions, which led to further discussions of the way that some national characteristics of the United States, such as individualism and suspicion of intellectualism contribute to these issues, how these important topics can be integrated into the curriculum more effectively, and the role of student protest on campus. Afterwards, attendees had the opportunity to continue the discussion with the panelists during a reception.

Apply Now for a 2107 Affordable Course Materials Grant

Learn more about grant money and staff support available to faculty who want to develop Affordable Course Materials.

The cost of textbooks and course materials is a well-known issue both here at Boston College and throughout higher education. Research suggests that about one-third of high financial need students at Boston College don’t buy any course materials and the cost, which can be over $1,000 per semester, can be a strain for other students as well. For the third year in a row, the Boston College Libraries and the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), with the support of the Provost, will be offering small grants to support full-time faculty who wish to use affordable course materials in their curriculum in an effort to address these issues. These new curriculum resources may be any combination of newly-created materials, publicly accessible resources, and items to which Boston College Libraries subscribe. Recipients of these competitive grants will receive $2,000 and the assistance of a team of library and CTE staff who can help them to prepare their new curriculum.

If this sounds like an interesting opportunity, please register to attend one of the Affordable Course Materials Initiative information sessions to be held on March 14 from 10-11 am (Please Register) and March 15 from 2-3 pm (Please Register). At these sessions, you will hear from librarians and CTE consultants who will be available to discuss:

  • an overview of the initiative and support available for faculty
  • locating open educational resources
  • copyright and licensing issues
  • accessibility concerns
  • creating a sustainable curriculum
  • managing resources in Canvas
  • assistance with creation of new content

When you are ready to prepare your grant proposal, please refer to our guide to the Grant Process for the complete details and a link to the application form. The deadline for submission of grant proposals is April 12, 2017 and awards will be made in early May. Please note that preference will be given to faculty to who plan to implement the new curriculum no later than Spring 2018. If you have any further questions, please contact your subject liaison for more information.