Maura Smale, Chief Librarian and Professor at City Tech and Mariana Regalado, Head of Reference and Instruction and Associate Professor at Brooklyn College recently published Digital Technology as Affordance and Barrier in Higher Education. The book examines the way in which technology impacts commuter student experiences in higher education.
How did you determine who would be the publisher for the book?
We had written up our results into a different book that we sent around to several university presses, but we didn’t get any bites, so we repurposed several chapters into individual articles. After presenting at ACRL with a colleague from the UK who had been contacted by Palgrave about her work with digital technology and higher education she gave them my and Mariana’s names. We have another book in press this year is published by ALA for which the editor contacted us and asked if we would be interested (he had seen our articles).
How long ago did you start conceptualizing this idea? What was the process of bringing this concept it to fruition?
We’ve been working on this research since 2009, which now seems to me like a very long time! We’ve always written and presented our work along the way, but I think Mariana and I both were interested in the longer argument and additional detail that a book allows over articles.
What is your work schedule like when you’re researching and writing?
It varies. Along the way I’ve had junior faculty reassigned time, some professional research leave for library faculty, and sabbatical. More recently, I have taken annual leave. I try to write every day if only for a half hour, usually in the morning before work. When a deadline was imminent, Mariana and I holed up together and wrote about 80% of a draft of the book in 5 days (we were fortunate that it was during the summer!). Mariana and I have worked together a long time and we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which helps tremendously.
What are next steps for research in this area of study?
Currently, I am examining student attitudes and practices in using course texts and conducting research. Mariana and I are also looking more at researching in community colleges — while they’re somewhat understudied, that will probably change as the recent free tuition movements focus on the first two years of college.
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the research, writing, and publishing process?
My favorite part of the research and writing process is when it is finished! Waiting to hear from publishers or editors is hard, and once a book is in process there are sometimes sudden deadlines with short turnarounds required. The research part of my scholarship is typically lots of fun; writing can be hard. Transcribing interviews also takes a lot of time — over my sabbatical it took me about a month to transcribe all the data.
Are there other researchers at the intersection of anthropology and information studies whose work you admire, or who you recommend to your readers?
Donna Lanclos at UNC Charlotte and Andrew Asher at Indiana University both have backgrounds in anthropology and do similar work to Mariana’s and mine. I think we all share a focus on students as people, not just as students.
If you could magically implement one of your recommendations at City Tech, which would it be?
I would level the playing field technologically by providing a low cost and high quality laptop for every student and ensuring that the WiFi is robust enough to handle this usage. Technology problems waste students’ time and this impacts their efficiency in their work as students and outside of school, too. I also think that more space in the library would be beneficial for our students (though everyone on campus wants more space, I know!).
News from the City Tech Library
