If you have ever wondered what the University of Victoria librarians are up to beyond assisting you in your scholarly endeavors, it might be time to check out the Library Publications (external) collection on UVicSpace (external).
This unique collection covers a variety of subject areas, authored by UVic librarians, in a broad range of formats including scholarly articles, reviews, reports, and more.
This year alone, there have been remarkable additions to the collection, from investigating the challenges that marginalized graduate students are facing in the library, to scoping reviews on substitute decision-makers for adults with impaired capacity.
If you are unsure of where to get started in browsing the collection, here are two recommendations for your next scholarly read.
Marginalized graduate students navigating the academy during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A phenomenological approach
Co-authored by UVic’s Aditi Gupta, this study (external) investigated the challenges and barriers that marginalized graduate students faced while using academic libraries for research activities during COVID-19. They also examined the student’s coping strategies. Through focus groups the study was able to make recommendations to bridge the divides, creating inclusive spaces, and create accessibility across all institutions.
Interestingly, in the conclusion, the authors also noted that while the pandemic might have sparked a notice for change in these areas, the students reinforced that “barriers to accessing library resources and services existed before the pandemic,” and that “re-establishing the pre-pandemic library will only serve to retrench these barriers for many students.”
Aditi Gupta (external) is the subject librarian for the Faculty of Engineering and the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology. Her research interests include, but are not limited to: diversity issues at libraries, cultural context of information literacy, and faculty and librarian collaborations.
If you are interested in reading more of Aditi’s work, we encourage you to check out her author page (external), on UVicSpace!
A scoping review of decision-making tools to support substitute decision-makers for adults with impaired capacity
This scoping review (external), co-authored by UVic’s Dr. Zahra Premji, examined the effectiveness of decision making tools in how they support substitute decision-makers (SDMs). SDMs are responsible for making decisions that honour the wishes relating to medical, personal, and end of life, of older adults who have lost the capicity to make the decision themselves, including those with dementia. However, SDMs may not always have the support and tools that they need to make these decisions without any negative impacts. In this scoping review, the authors identified and determined the effectiveness of evidence-based decision-making tools for SDMs.
In the review, the authors found that the current individual tools may not be enough to support SDMs in their needs. Stating that “further development is required. This could include iterative co-redesign of existing tools to address their gaps.” The authors also suggested that healthcare providers were mindful of the decision making needs of the SDMs when providing tools, or even creating toolkits to address their individual needs.
Dr. Zahra Premji (external) is the health research librarian at the University of Victoria. Her subjects include kinesiology, public health, and social dimension of health. If you are interested in the work that Dr. Premji does, head over to her author page (external) on UVicSpace to read more!
These are only two examples of the exceptional scholarly work that the librarians at UVic publish, if you want to read and explore more of the work that they do, check out the Library Publications collection on UVicSpace today!
