The Authority File

Paula Krebs, Executive Director of the Modern Language Association, definitely did not expect insurrectionists to storm the US Capitol the day before the 2021 MLA Annual Convention. However, when she re-recorded her introductory video to reflect the societal temperature, she found that her most salient points remained—whether in crisis or not, the Humanities help us sift through and make sense of...

If we only had access to the “right” news, would all of our information literacy problems be solved? Who is allowed to be the authority on a subject? How do we determine what is the truth?<p> The Modern Language Association recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Bibliography , a human-curated database of Humanities research. Paula Krebs, Executive Director of MLA, hopes that its te...

Paula Krebs, Executive Director of MLA, doesn’t want the MLA Handbook “to be simply a reference work that sits on the shelf.” Instead, the latest edition has roughly 300 more pages than the previous, revealing the fluid, human mechanics behind our authoritative sources. In fact, Paula explains that many of these additions—visuals aids, online citation guides, inclusive language instruction—were ma...

From her lifelong LGBTQ+ advocacy work to her time in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Cheri DiNovo understands the daily grind of activism from both sides. While inspiring, gratifying, and necessary, social movements require relentless persistence. “That’s the test for activism: you have to keep it going. You have to keep that momentum going.”<p> In this final episode, Cheri breaks down...

Cheri DiNovo, former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, has been inside the belly of the legislative beast. Known for passing a historic number of LGBTQ+ bills, Cheri forged many bipartisan connections, negotiating her way from “motherhood” issues into the more contested. In her own words: “I prefer to think, and I guess this is the Christian in me too, or at least the faithful person...

In 2001, United Church of Canada minister Cheri DiNovo conducted the first legal same sex marriage. This led to prominent news coverage and a member of Parliament reaching out and suggesting she run for office. Though Cheri had a history of social justice activism, she was new to the traditional political process and its challenges. “I thought … perhaps I could accomplish more sitting in one...

“Queer evangelist,” “socialist clergy,” and “honest politician” are not phrases you typically see thrown together. Cheri DiNovo, former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and current United Church of Canada minister, embraces all three.<p> Cheri lived on the streets, ran a headhunting agency, joined the clergy, and became a politician—one who passed the most LGBTQ bills in Canadia...

The COVID-19 pandemic will leave a changed world in its wake. But will the changes continue post-pandemic? How many of the problems faced in the past year weren’t new, and only exacerbated due to underlying issues? How many will fix those flawed structures to soften the blow of future crises?<p> Greg Eow, President of the Center for Research Libraries, hopes that higher education will rise t...

Who doesn’t love a good ice cream social? Greg Eow, President of the Center for Research Libraries, believes that partnerships between university presses and libraries are key to developing sustainable knowledge dissemination practices. During his time at MIT Libraries, he would invite members of the Press to their annual ice cream social—any opportunity to mingle between groups was essentia...

After receiving a grant from the Arcadia Fund in 2019, MIT Press got to work building a collective action model for open access monograph publishing. The press juggled several obstacles, like limited data on OA monographs and having to determine a realistic target needed to sustain the program. With Direct to Open (D2O) now officially launched, how did it evolve into its current form today?<p&g...

Monographs are an integral part of the Humanities, an area of academia known for its slower shift into the open access world. While journals and ebooks have adjusted to OA models with relative ease, publishers have struggled to do the same with monographs. What can be done?<p> In October 2019, MIT Press received a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund to publish a collection of monographs ope...

At the very least, embracing new topics, themes, and authors makes modern literature more dynamic. At the very best, it can redefine what literature is by making it more equitable and representative.<p> Austin Clarke, a Black Canadian author in the 1960s-2000s, has been largely left out of the Canadian literary landscape. With collections like ‘Membering Austin Clarke , editor of the volume...

Writers cultivate their own style over time. Environment, perspective, and craft all inform character types, dialogue, setting, and themes. A complex place in the world can yield complex writing, but that doesn’t mean we leave the writer and their work behind.<p> Austin Clarke, a Black Canadian author of novels, essays, and short stories, was widely published from the 1960s onward and regard...

The contemporary monograph tends to follow a standard template. Multiple academics examine a topic in a collection of essays. A single scholar carves out their corner of a specialized discipline. There’s an introduction, lengthy index, and somewhat impersonal writing style. But what if the content doesn’t allow for a “typical” monograph structure?<p> Edited by Paul Barrett, ‘Membering Austin...

When discussing 20th-century Canadian literature, which stories come to mind? What overarching subjects or themes stick out? Most likely, multiculturalism, urban life, or Black diasporas are not at the forefront of the conversation.<p> Austin Clarke, a Black Canadian writer of novels, short stories, and poetry didn’t fit into the typical CanLit narrative. As Paul Barrett, editor of ‘Memberin...

We often hail collaboration as the key to success in academic pursuits. But does higher education culture prevent collaborative relationships from developing? Has the pandemic opened up opportunities between departments that weren’t present before?<p> Susan Mizruchi, editor of Libraries and Archives in the Digital Age , explains how academia can encourage specialization or “tending our own g...

Our digital age has brought with it a mushrooming number of sources, articles, and perspectives to choose from. What should be preserved? How open should resources be? How do librarians and archivists navigate our complicated, ever-changing digital world?<p> Susan Mizruchi, editor of  Libraries and Archives in the Digital Age , discusses the concerns librarians hold as our digital footprint...

Whether we like to admit it or not, politics surround our civic, professional, and personal lives. The media we choose, products we buy, and people we engage with reflect our own governance, political party, and position in society. So how do politics factor into the preservation, curation, and dissemination of digital materials?<p> Susan Mizruchi, director of the Center for Humanities at Bo...

The digital age has brought an onslaught of changes to the practice of information preservation. With so much out there at a time, how can archivists keep up? How do librarians fit into the task of finding and safeguarding materials? How can archivists, curators, and librarians work together to collect, restore, and preserve information for years to come? <p> Susan Mizruchi, director of the...

Against all odds, we’ve made it to the end of 2020. Moving into the new year, we need to make sure our pandemic solutions (raised wages, rent moratoriums, etc.) aren’t short term. How do we reshape our public health structures to address longstanding inequities? <p> This week is our final episode with the editors of Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19 . Three of its editors, J...

As health care workers and susceptible citizens receive the first COVID-19 vaccinations, many hope this will mark the beginning of the end of a dark, deadly period. But the vaccine rollout also deepens the same problems we’ve been facing all year: who are our most vulnerable, and how do we help them in an equitable way? <p> Last week, two of the editors of Vulnerable: The Law, Policy a...

As we look down the barrel of a COVID-19 winter, many of us would rather skip ahead to summer and what will hopefully be a (generally) vaccinated populace. Now facing the effects travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, many areas in the US are buckling under increased outbreaks on top of already staggering case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths. How have we not learned the lessons of the sprin...

This week in the US, Congress meets to hopefully pass a stimulus package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last stimulus bill, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which included cash payments, forgivable loans for small businesses, and expanded unemployment benefits, passed in late March. Almost 10 months later, with unemployment rates rising and provisions in the CARES...

As the fall semester and 2020 come to a close, what does the future look like for our libraries, colleges, and world? What new practices or workflows will we keep, and which will be abandoned come 2021 and beyond? Sarah Copeland, director of desks and patron experience at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, voices her concerns over staff burnout once normal working functions return. Lauren Ma...

When we sift through an author’s collection, we tend to think big-picture. What are the overarching themes, motifs, or morals? What will be their legacy? Luckily, Timothy Findley, the Canadian author and playwright, left behind a great number of books, plays, and memoirs for us to contemplate. Sherrill Grace, author of Findley’s biography  Tiff: A Life of Timothy Findley , believes Findley’s legac...