November 2019 569 C&RL News Graduate students have always been a core academic library user group. However, because undergraduates typi- cally make up a larger percentage of the on-campus student body, the development of targeted library services and program- ming for graduate students has often taken a back seat. Recently, however, interest in academic library services for graduate students has increased, as demonstrated by conferences devoted to this topic1 and the formation of an ACRL interest group focused on this issue.2 One way libraries have supported un- dergraduates is by rewarding and show- casing their research outputs through research award competitions. Oregon State University Libraries, has held a Library Un- dergraduate Research Award competition for many years3 and similar competitions can be found at Penn State University4 and the University of Washington,5 to highlight a few. Other libraries, such as the University of Southern California6 and Brandeis Universi- ty,7 invite both undergraduate and graduate students to take part in these competitions. These awards seek to highlight the connec- tion between using library resources and services and the excellent research papers that can result. When we considered the types of research and scholarship graduate students do and the changing nature of academic library research, we wondered if a competition that focused on the process of scholarship rather than the end product might provide both graduate students and librarians with novel ways to demonstrate the impact of our work. One major change in how graduate stu- dents interact with sources is that they may never physically interact with either the academic library collection or the library itself. As a result, library collections may begin to seem invisible, and the costs of maintaining these collections can become invisible, as well. Similarly, the impact of past scholars can feel increasingly ephem- eral, and past scholarly outputs can easily recede into the constant cycle of knowl- edge being created. We wanted to help reveal the impact of previous researchers and their impact on graduate students’ work, as well as make visible libraries’ role in supporting emerging researchers. So we designed a competition to encourage graduate students to create visual represen- tations of how past scholarship connected to their own research. Bibliographies are one manifestation of the research conversations graduate students surface and curate. We invited graduate students from our institution to Kalli Damschen and Hannah Gascho Rempel Making research visible A library competition for graduate students Kalli Damschen is formerly Oregon State University L i b r a r i e s g r a d u a t e r e s e a r c h a s s i s t a n t , e m a i l : kmdamschen@gmail.com, and Hannah Gascho Rempel is science librarian at Oregon State University, email: hannah.rempel@oregonstate.edu © 2019 Kalli Damschen and Hannah Gascho Rempel mailto:kmdamschen%40gmail.com?subject= mailto:hannah.rempel%40oregonstate.edu?subject= C&RL News November 2019 570 participate in a competition called “Visual- ize Your Bibliography.” The competition parameters were fairly open: creatively display at least 20 sources used in your thesis, dissertation, or other long-form project. In this article we will detail the development of the competition, share the promotion and evaluation workflows, and discuss future potential iterations of this competition. Developing the competition First, we proposed the competition to our library administra- tion. We re- quested in- centives to e n c o u r a g e g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s to partici- pate. Based on other r e s e a r c h c o m p e t i - tions and s c h o l a r - ships ad- vertised on c a m p u s , we sug- gested and were given f u n d i n g from gift money for the following awards: First Place: $750; Second Place: $500; Third Place: $250. Participants needed to be current Or- egon State University graduate students. However, rewarding the process of re- search had the added benefit of allowing graduate students who had not yet finished their theses or degrees to take part in the competition. Because of the novelty of this competi- tion, we couldn’t find examples of similar competitions on our campus or elsewhere. After developing a general outline of the project’s purpose and scope, we brain- stormed possible submission ideas in order to develop samples, both so we would be better equipped to delineate the competi- tion’s requirements and so interested stu- dents would more clearly understand what the judges would be looking for. We gener- ated an initial list of more than 20 different ideas, ranging from papier-mâché using pages from each source to a Tumblr blog featuring posts for each source to a family tree illustrating the connections between sources. O u t o f the 20 ini- tial sample i d e a s , w e s e l e c t e d three to cre- ate and fea- ture on the c o m p e t i - tion’s web- site. While s e l e c t i n g the sample s u b m i s - s i o n s , w e prioritized variety, not only in re- s p o n s e t o t h e q u e s - t i o n o f p h y s i c a l versus digi- tal, but also by considering how students in different disciplines might approach the competition. For the first example, we created a series of erasure poems by printing out the first page of 20 sources from the bibliography of an English thesis and erasing text from each page to create poems (see Figure 1). Both individually and as a series, the erasure poems set out to demonstrate how a scholar draws from the conversations in previous works to create something entirely new. Figure 1. Sample visualization using the erasure technique. November 2019 571 C&RL News For the second example, we gathered more than 30 print books from a history thesis and used them as dominos, arrang- ing them in various configurations and then knocking them down. In addition to visually showcasing the number and variety of books cited, the resulting book dominos video also symbolically conveyed how one source can lead to another and how different ideas may intersect and col- lide throughout the research process (see Figure 2). With the third example, we went en- tirely digital and created an online timeline of sourc- es from a chem- i s t r y d i s s e r - t a t i o n , p r o v i d - i n g i n - f o r m a - t i o n a b o u t w h e n a n d w h e r e e a c h s o u r c e was published. In addition to showing the historical range of the sources, this example also revealed some interesting trends in the research, as many of the sources were published in waves, thereby highlighting the conversational element of research, as sources may respond directly or indirectly to other published materials. The process of creating these examples helped us better understand the com- petition parameters by prompting us to consider a wide range of possible visual- izations. For example, only after creating the examples did we settle on the mode of submission—Google Forms—because we could better anticipate what file types and sizes students might submit. Indeed, we intentionally highlighted the file types accepted by Google Forms in the competi- tion guidelines as a way of encouraging students to think outside the box. Google Forms allows the upload of documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, videos, presentations, drawings, images, and audio files. In addi- tion, competition participants could instead submit a link to an external website that hosted their submission. By including a range of sample submissions—one series of images, one video, and one link to a timeline-maker website—and highlighting the various file types accepted by Google Forms, we hoped to encourage students to think widely and engage their creativity in order to best rep- r e s e n t t h e i r e x p e r i - ence of research c o n v e r - s a t i o n s w i t h i n t h e i r field. C r e - a t i n g s a m p l e v i s u a l - izations also helped us realize that to fully understand the visualizations, we would need some context. In addition to submitting the visualization, we asked par- ticipants to share a description of why they chose to display their sources the way they did and to give some background on their research project. The written submission components combined were not to exceed one page. Participants also submitted the bibliography of the sources used. Promoting the competition Once we finalized the competition rules, submission guidelines, and award infor- mation, we were ready to start promoting this brand new competition. To start, we populated a LibGuide8 with all the rel- evant information about the contest, as Figure 2. Sample visualization using a book dominos video. C&RL News November 2019 572 (continues on page 579) well as the three sample submissions and a brief contextual write-up about each one. We then designed a poster featuring a summary of the competition, the award information, and the deadline, as well as a bit.ly link to the LibGuide. We emailed this promotional poster to the Graduate School, and subject liaison librarians sent it to various schools and colleges at the university. In collaboration with the Grad- uate School, we set the submission dead- line for the first day of their annual Grad Student Appreciation Week. They agreed to include details about the competition in their promotional emails and featured information about the competition on their website in the months leading up to the deadline. Finally, we printed the promotional poster and displayed it in the library foyer. Competition participation Over five months, the competition’s web- site received more than 650 views, and by the time the deadline arrived, 19 stu- dents had entered—more than twice as many entries as we anticipated for the competition’s inaugural year. We selected five judges (three librarians with differing disciplinary backgrounds and two gradu- ate students who work with the library), all of whom were blown away by the in- sight, skill, and originality of the 19 sub- missions. For example, one student from the Col- lege of Forestry created a mobile of min- iature books folded from the first page of each of her sources, and in her rationale, discussed how the mobile signified the importance of research in maintaining the delicate balance of ecosystems. A Speech Communication student created an art- fully crafted video showing piles of dirt flying upward to reveal a line of books underneath. His rationale argued that good research unearths truths that might otherwise be forgotten. Though the choice was difficult, our committee of judges used a rubric to select the three winners. The rubric in- cluded an evaluation of the originality of the visualization, the quality of the visual representation, and how the choice of the visualization conveyed interesting insights about the research process or the specific field of research. After seeing the incred- ible range of submissions, we determined to showcase all the entries in a gallery. After obtaining the entrants’ permission, we created an online gallery9 to showcase the submissions and are currently working to put together a physical gallery, includ- ing both printed and digital visualizations. Image-based visualizations will be printed, mounted, and displayed on standing or table easels, depending on their size. Multimedia-based visualizations, such as videos and slides, will be displayed on securely mounted iPads. The visualizations will be displayed in the Graduate Student Commons, located on the sixth floor of the library. Takeaways Feedback from the “Visualize Your Bib- liography” competition has been over- whelmingly positive. The participating graduate students were excited to see the work submitted by their peers. Library staff have been impressed by the range of visual expressions students chose. Li- brarians don’t always get to see the final product of students’ work, so the chance to gain insights into students’ creative engagement with sources has been re- warding. But perhaps most importantly, this competition has allowed graduate students to re-envision their research pro- cess. One competition participant shared that creating the visualization helped her to see her own research in a new way, which has spurred a new research direction for her. Another participant shared that the com- petition inspired him to think about how November 2019 579 C&RL News Notes 1. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, “United States Small Busi- ness Economic Profiles for 2018,” 2018, https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files /advocacy/2018-Small-Business-Profiles-US. pdf. 2. CB Insights, “The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail,” (February 2, 2018), https:// app.cbinsights.com/research/startup-failure -reasons-top/. 3. Pearl Dahmen and Eileen Rodríguez, “Financial Literacy and the Success of Small Businesses: An Observation from a Small Business Development Center,” Numeracy 7, no. 1 (2014), https://doi.org/10.5038/1936 -4660.7.1.3. 4. Invent Penn State, “Impact,” 2019, https://invent.psu.edu/impact/. 5. Penn State University, “Intercollege Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” accessed May 13, 2019, enti.psu.edu/. 6. Ibid. “Penn State Startup Week,” 2019, https://startupweek.psu.edu/. 7. Penn State Small Business Development Center, accessed June 4, 2019, https://sbdc. psu.edu/. 8. America’s Small Business Develop- ment Centers, accessed May 30 2019, https:// americassbdc.org/. 9. Pennsylvania State Educators Credit Union, 2019, “Wallet Works Financial Ed- ucation,” https://www.psecu.com/learn /wallet-works. creative modes of communication might help his research impact new audiences in meaningful ways. A third competition participant ob- served that creating a visualization in a new medium helped her tackle her feelings of imposter syndrome and gave her courage on her journey to becoming a university professor. As library collections and services evolve, we will need to continue to think of new ways to engage with the communities we serve. Making the process of research more visible through a visualize your bibliography competition is one creative way to encourage scholarly communities to engage with their sources, reflect on the connections they have made to past scholarship, and share tangible outputs with the academic community. Notes 1. “National Conference on Graduate Services Kennesaw State University,” ac- cessed May 22, 2019, https://digitalcommons. kennesaw.edu/gradlibconf/. 2. “ACRL Academic Library Services for Graduate Students Interest Group,” accessed May 22, 2019, https://acrl.libguides.com /als4gsig. 3. “Oregon State University Library Un- dergraduate Research Awards,” accessed May 15, 2019, https://library.oregonstate.edu /awards/undergrad-research. 4. “Penn State University Libraries Undergradu- ate Research Award,” accessed May 15, 2019, https:// libraries.psu.edu/about/awards-scholarships -internships-and-graduate-assistantships /university-libraries-undergraduate. 5. “Library Research Award for Under- graduates —University of Washington Librar- ies,” accessed May 15, 2019, http://www.lib. washington.edu/researchaward. 6. “USC Libraries Research Award,” accessed May 15, 2019, https://libraries. usc.edu/locations/special-collections/usc -libraries-research-award. 7. “Brandeis University Research Ex- cellence Prize,” accessed May 15, 2019, http://www.brandeis.edu/library/research /research-excellence-prize.html. 8. LibGuide, https://guides.library. oregonstate.edu/gradcompetition. 9. See https://guides.library.oregonstate. edu/gradcompetition/onlinegallery. 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