Copley Library 2023-2024 Annual Report

“My focus is always on the systems within which information is created, and how those structures influence the information itself.” | Amanda Makula

Amanda Makula H ello, I’m Amanda Makula, the Digital Initiatives Librarian. I work in the Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives Department of Copley Library. I have been at USD for eight years, and before that I worked for 12 years at Augustana College as a Research & Instruction Librarian. I have a Master of Art in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa. In my current position, I promote open access to scholarship, creative work, and archival material through the university’s institutional repository, Digital USD. One of our signature collections is the San Diego Lowrider Archival Project, which documents the history of lowriding in San Diego and the surrounding borderlands. At last year’s Digital Initiatives Symposium, I co-presented the collection with project leaders Dr. Alberto Pulido and Rigo Reyes to a packed audience. In my work with students and faculty, I advocate for the open sharing of knowledge. Openness provides more people with access to information, helping new discoveries spread far and wide and accelerating scientific and societal advancements. In my research, I’m also interested in looking at systems that hinder open access, and asking why, and what can be done about it. For example, traditional merit systems in academia, such as tenure and promotion, typically do not encourage or reward open sharing. I wrote an article examining this disconnect and imagining how it could be different in the future. Whether I’m in the classroom or working one-on-one with a student, my focus is always on the systems within which information is created, and how those structures influence the information itself. In other words, information doesn’t come to us in a vacuum. It is shaped by the context through which it is produced. It can come to us in varying degrees of bias or objectivity, fact or opinion, reliability or dubiousness; it’s up to us to pay attention, ask questions, and think critically. This is the heart of information literacy, and it’s a lifelong skill set that I’m always encouraging students to develop. Fun fact: Whenever I travel, especially internationally, I like to seek out a local public library, to see how it’s similar to and different from the one I’m familiar with. Buenos Aires, Argentina is a top destination on my wishlist, and when I’m there, I’d love to get a glimpse of the “Arma De Instrucción Masiva,” or “Weapon of Mass Instruction,” a truck-turned-army tank by artist Raul Lemesoff that delivers free books to anyone who promises to read them!

8 | HELEN K. AND JAMES S. COPLEY LIBRARY