As science, technology, and math programs continue to thrive at colleges and universities, this holistic guide shows academic libraries how to effectively support STEM education and research students and programs.
Amid overall falling enrollment figures for higher education, the growing success of STEM programs bucks the trend. Ensuring that these programs flourish has become a priority for administrators at the provost level and above. But this emphasis on STEM poses challenges for academic libraries, many of which have instead historically focused on the humanities and social sciences. This primer helps to fill that knowledge gap, demystifying the scientific teaching and research processes for LIS students and current academic librarians alike. Regardless of their background or level of experience, readers of this guide will
- gain an overview of the contemporary STEM teaching and research enterprise by learning about the roles and needs of STEM community members such as program administrators, tenure track principal investigators (PIs), non-tenure track teaching faculty, research staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students;
- become familiarized with the "research group," the organizational structure through which these different personas come together to advance the university research enterprise;
- get pointers on building teaching and learning programs that enhance student success and designing research support services that integrate into STEM researchers' actual workflows;
- receive proven outreach strategies for engaging STEM communities;
- learn approaches for incorporating AI (artificial intelligence) and LLMs (large language models) into information literacy programs for scientists and engineers; and
- discover how library leaders can support both nascent and established STEM librarians to advance STEM education and research at their local institutions.
Alexander J. Carroll, MSLS, AHIP, is the Associate Director of the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) at Vanderbilt University. He received his MSLS degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science, and his BA from James Madison University. Alex is an Associate Editor of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) and is a Distinguished member of MLA's Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP). His research has appeared in College & Research Libraries, portal: Libraries and the academy, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, and the Journal of the Medical Library Association. His prior work has been recognized by multiple ALA Library Instruction Round Table "Top Twenty" awards, as well as ASEE's Engineering Library Division Best Publication Award.
Joshua Borycz, MSIS, PhD, is a Librarian for STEM Research at the Vanderbilt University Libraries. He has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, an MSIS from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a BS in Chemistry and Mathematics from Hope College. Josh works as a data management consultant, research methods and information literacy instructor, and a researcher in information and social science. His research interests include the attitudes of researchers in different fields towards data management, scientometrics, the impact of misinformation and disinformation on public opinion, and social media analysis. He has published more than 30 articles in competitive journals, such as
Springer Nature Social Science,
PLOS ONE,
First Monday,
Advances in Complex Systems, the
Journal of eScience Librarianship, and
Nature Humanities and Social Science Communications. This work has received recognition through the ACS Chemical Information Division Lucille Wert Scholarship, the CODATA Early Career Essay Award, and the ASEE Engineering Library Division Best Publication Award in 2022.
