Pennsylvania Libraries: Research & Practice

In the PaLRaP Spotlight: Susan Banks, MLIS

Stephanie Campbell — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Noteworthy: News Briefs from PA Libraries

Annie Jansen — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Experiential Learning in the Archives: Case Studies in Digital Humanities Pedagogy for Undergraduate Research

Colleen Farry — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This article explores experiential learning in archives and special collections as an emerging area of digital humanities pedagogy within which librarians can take a central role. The case studies presented cover a range of undergraduate research projects that incorporated active and inquiry-based learning exercises with digital archives as a pedagogical approach to digital humanities instruction. The research projects include an honors project to create an online exhibit of medieval manuscript leaves, a capstone experience in the library to explore the relationship between archives and social justice, and a course project that used the University Archives to research the University of Scranton’s Black history.

Format Agnostic Archival Processing: Using One Standard for All

Kari May — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

Pooling guidance and examples from nationally and internationally known groups including the Digital Preservation Coalition, University of California Libraries, and OCLC, this article supports processing archival assets with a format agnostic perspective to promote a unified standard for all materials. Format agnostic processing can embrace and align digital and physical assets under one expectation for basic outputs regardless of their formats. In mixed material collections, digital assets are frequently seen as requiring a disassociated set of tools and knowledge and approached as unconnected to the physical assets. The format agnostic perspective can eliminate the tendency toward varying levels of processing and differing descriptions standards complicating the discovery of collection materials due to the varying formats of its assets. It can also support timely processing and preservation of digital assets to decrease the risk of data loss. Format agnostic processing would enhance discoverability while minimizing the loss of digital information.

An Introduction to Pennsylvania Legal Research for Academic Librarians and Researchers

Peter J Egler — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

This article reviews electronic Pennsylvania legal research resources available to academic librarians and researchers, the structure of the Pennsylvania state government, and the types of information published by each branch of the government. The executive branch publishes the Pennsylvania Bulletin (the state’s administrative register) and the Pennsylvania Code (the state’s administrative code). The laws passed by the Pennsylvania state legislature are codified in two separate statutory codes: Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes and Pennsylvania Statutes. The legislature also publishes legislative history for statutes that can help to determine the intent of the legislature when the law was passed. The Pennsylvania courts consist of trial courts, two intermediate appellate courts, and a supreme court. All levels of courts publish case decisions and rules to govern court procedure. Citators help to determine whether a case decision is still valid.