GIS Librarians for Open Workflows (GLOW) Forums
May 23-25, 2023
University of Chicago Library
The Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) awarded the University of Chicago Library a National Leadership Grant to support the hosting of national forums on GIS librarianship. Organized in collaboration with the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), the project - GIS Librarians for Open Workflows (GLOW), will focus on the workflows of librarians and library staff charged with supporting geographic information systems (GIS) and its use across diverse academic disciplines. The grant will support multiple in-person forums, workshops, and coordination of existing and new open educational resources (OERs). Leading the project is Cecilia Smith, Director of Digital Scholarship at the UChicago Library and former GIS and Maps Librarian, in collaboration with Diana Sinton, Senior Research Fellow at the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).
Apply now to attend the in-person forum that will take place May 23-25, 2023 at the University of Chicago Library. The deadline for applications is March 17, 2023, and applicants will be notified of decisions by March 31, 2023. Travel, lodging, and meal expenses will be reimbursed for the applicants selected to participate.
In this second GLOW Forum, we will focus on geospatial open educational resources, including their development, usage and evaluation, and distribution. We will explore and discuss practical technological solutions that have been pursued in the past, such as repository platforms as points for discovery and access. These will include existing and future OER platforms, including the GIS&T BoK (https://gistbok.ucgis.org) and its forthcoming Living Textbook environment, TeachGIS.org, the IMGIS (Instruction Materials by and for GIS Librarians and Practitioners project (link), and other initiatives such as the IMLS GIS Toolkit (link). Realistic plans for how such platforms can be maintained and supported by the community will be a key topic. We will also discuss the emerging role for AI and machine learning to facilitate the discovery of existing online OER content.
Participants in Forum Session 2 will include GIS librarians particularly interested in OER production, usage, and dissemination, and how these technologies and online platforms support their praxes. We will also invite developers and UI/UX experts who can inform the discussions and provide real-time feedback of ideas or solutions being evaluated or proposed.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. The IMLS National Leadership Grant for Libraries "support projects of national impact that address significant challenges and opportunities facing the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance theory and practice."
Please direct questions about the GLOW Forums to Cecilia Smith, ceciliasmith@uchicago.edu.
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Benjamin Aldred
Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian
University of Illinois at Chicago
He/Him/His,They/Them/Theirs
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