The UW Libraries Open Scholarship Commons (OSC) plans to expand its services to better support members of the academic community performing public and community-engaged research and scholarship. To inform the future development of the OSC, this project investigated the current state of public and community-engaged scholarship at the UW and beyond through a literature review, environmental scan, and interviews. Findings from this project will inform how the OSC develops its virtual and physical presence, the services and resources it offers, and how it fits into the University's broader efforts to support work with and for the community and public.

Many traditional entrepreneurship support networks exclude people from marginalized backgrounds. My research identified existing library resources that support entrepreneurship but no specific resources for marginalized entrepreneurs. From my research and conversations with librarians, I was able to identify a need: a resource designed specifically for supporting entrepreneurs from marginalized communities. I created a toolkit for librarians in Washington state to use in supporting entrepreneurs from marginalized communities. By using my toolkit, librarians in Washington will be able to support entrepreneurs from marginalized backgrounds. In turn, entrepreneurs and small business owners from marginalized backgrounds will be able to grow their businesses.

The Digital Theological Library (DTL) has a growing Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) collection that needs to be made accessible to subscribing schools and individuals as physical access to collections has been limited due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The CDL project is an effort to increase accessibility by digitizing books and then storing the physical copies so that only the digitized copy is accessible by users. The DTL has purchased, scanned, and uploaded thousands of print volumes. Reagan Callahan was responsible for linking approximately 3,000 digitized books in Dropbox to the library’s LibGuides and activating those records within OCLC World Share.

This project looked at bike lending programs at other libraries and organizations to determine if such a program could be implemented at the Natrona County Library located in Casper, WY. After researching other programs, models that could work for the Library were presented to the sponsor along with a projected budget, program guide, and list of partner organizations. If implemented, this project will help the Library fulfill its mission of advocating for literacy, education, and a thriving community.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more activities have moved online but not everyone has access to reliable internet or the skills to do activities like school and work from home especially in rural communities. By analyzing data that has been collected by Digital Navigators using a set of intake forms, this project attempts to assess the lack of access and skills to reliable internet and devices, and provide necessary resources to rural communities in Appalachia. The results focused on the availability of the internet, access to the internet, especially in low-income households, and interest in employment.

Ensuring access to digital content for everyone is one of the core principles of Open Library & their parent organization, the Internet Archive. To ensure that this is true for all patrons, regardless of ability, this capstone project focused on testing Open Library’s code-base for digital accessibility. A test set of twenty pages was created for a WCAG 2.1 audit. Testing and remediation were done with the help of Open Library’s network of Open-Source contributors. Accessibility policies and documentation were drafted to ensure compliance continues in the future.

Examination and intellectual arrangement and description of the Edmond S. Meany photographic albums No. 1- 3.

In collaboration with Green River College’s Holman Library, we developed tools and best practices for implementing an equity-first approach to evaluating and managing Holman’s video tutorial collection. Designed to center students’ relationship to these instructional materials, we built an evaluative rubric and controlled vocabulary to identify criteria for a collection of internal and open access instructional materials and make recommendations for content and structure. Establishing values, frameworks, and tools for collection-building at the intersection of critical information literacy, inclusive pedagogy, and instructional design aims to locate student users as active participants in their navigation of library resources and research processes.

The University District Food Bank required a new database to meet the needs of their multiple programs and accurately track their data. A centralized system provides more continuity for staff, volunteers, and better service to the clients. Based on the information needs of the staff and our research of database options, we customized FoodBank Manager's cloud-based application for its programs. The application features manage clients appropriately, are accessible to multiple staff concurrently, and are easy to update over time without a technical contractor. The Food Bank will be able to provide better service to its guests and stakeholders.

In order to go beyond the “Trans 101” programming common within libraries, we developed Found, a table-top role-playing game and discussion inspired by the well-known Mission to Mars passive education and problem-solving activity. Between experiences-based character creation, diverse non-player characters, flexible abilities, a soft tone to allow for vulnerability, a setting that encourages engagement with systemic issues, thought-provoking puzzles, and contemplative discussion questions, Found is a program designed to foster transgender community by giving space to comfortably explore gender, while also increasing cultural competency of cisgender allies.