GIS Librarians for Open Workflows (GLOW) Forums

The GIS Librarians for Open Workflows (GLOW) Forums convened in-person at the University of Chicago in December 2022 and May 2023 to discuss the workflows of librarians and library staff supporting geographic information systems. The project will also host conference workshops throughout the academic year and a virtual session.

Our conversations will center on concrete examples from social justice, health, and infrastructure application areas to inform the to inform shared vocabularies and practices. Sessions will feature expert speakers, interactive activities, and group discussion. While the number of attendees will be limited, there will be other opportunities to participate in the project during upcoming workshops that will be announced.

1:00-3:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific

Here are the activities that took place during the virtual forum:

During the virtual session, modified for an online and condensed format, our discussions covered workflows and activities undertaken within university library contexts, building on shared vocabularies and practices. A second focal area included digital platforms regularly used as portals for search and dissemination of OERs.

This opportunity wa designed for GIS librarians and other academic staff who serve in a support role for the geospatial sciences in higher education. Examples and case studies were drawn from university library settings in the United States and Canada.

Here are the activities that took place during Forum 2:

• Discussions and demonstrations of existing and prototype versions of OERs and related platforms, including summarized feedback about usage patterns from Forum Session 1;
• Sharing of praxes and experiences by librarians and others who have previously developed, supported, and maintained collections and portals for OERs. The purpose is to compile realistic and practical input about sustainability, community contributions, the role of machine learning in collection development, and governance and business models for ongoing support and maintenance of materials, platforms, and other technologies developed within library contexts.
• Presentations by two experts in developing, disseminating, and evaluating OERs and their distribution solutions.
• Preliminary organizational discussions for pursuit of external funding for further development and implementation of OER ideas that emerge.

GLOW Forum 2 Full Summary: PDF Download

Here are the activities that took place during Forum 1:

• Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) exercise to describe and share the range of responsibilities and tasks among participants;
• A facilitated discussion of workflows through the lens of three examples - social justice, health, and infrastructure - which will draw out the complementary and unique consultation needs of interdisciplinary research;
• Two presentations by interdisciplinary researchers in the areas of social justice, health, and infrastructure, on their geospatial support needs (as components of the workflow discussion);
• Several sessions of role playing to model the types of exchanges that characterize both typical and unique consultations and queries for data, software usage, and mapping solutions;
• Participants sharing their experiences on their use of geospatial OERs: creating, modifying, adopting, revising. We want to know what materials (formats, focus) have consistently worked best for them over time and why these have worked, and what they are less satisfied with, and why.

GLOW Forum 1 Full Summary: PDF Download

• Virtual Workshop - July 25, 2023
• Workshop at AAG 2023 in Denver
• Other conference workshops TBA