On Wednesday May 2^nd, Layra Cintron-Rivera, Lydia Dupree, Raymond Kingsbury, and Walt O'Donnell were awarded the 2018 Library Research Prizes of $1,000 and were honored at a reception in the Library. Since there were a number of outstanding applications, the committee also decided to present two honorable mentions to two undergraduate submissions: Diana Olivo and Dana Saad.

Undergraduate winners Layra Cintron-Rivera and Lydia Dupree pictured with President Mark Nemec, Christine Siegel, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Brent Mai, Dean of Libraries, and Catherine Andersen, Assistant Professor of Biology.

Layra Cintron-Rivera and Lydia Dupree were awarded the undergraduate Library Research Prize for their team research paper entitled "Liver X Receptor activation decreases chronic myelogenous leukemia cell viablility while altering the expressions of genes related to cholesterol, antiapoptosis, and cell differentiation." This paper was written for Dr. Catherine Andersen’s course, Biology Research. Layra and Lydia are senior Biology majors graduating in just a few short weeks. The committee was very impressed with the breadth of their journal articles from library databases as well as their use of library services such as reference help and online guides such as the APA citation guide and poster design tips. Dr. Andersen had glowing remarks for her students saying, "For this project, Layra and Lydia have submitted a completely original and sophisticated scientific manuscript based on their independent research. Layra and Lydia demonstrate an exceptional degree of proficiency and learning in regards to research methodology and professional scientific writing that will support their pursuit of research after graduating this spring."

Graduate winners Raymond Kingsbury and Walt O'Donnell pictured with President Mark Nemec, Christine Siegel, Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Brent Mai, Dean of Libraries.

The winner of the Graduate Research category was a team research project submitted by Raymond Kingsbury and Walt O'Donnell entitled “Effects of Daily Meditation on Ninth Grade Students”. This paper was written as part of their course Intro Educational Research taught by Dr Barbara Welles. Both Raymond and Walt are pursuing the Masters of Arts in Education from the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions. Raymond and Walt utilized a variety of library resources, particularly databases (such as ERIC and Education Database), research and citation guides from the library website, and learned how to utilize keywords to find the right research articles during an appointment with a librarian. Dr. Welles commented, "Effects of Daily Meditation is a brilliant project because it is simple to administer, the results could easily be compared to other studies, and the possible positive effects for students and teachers is attainable with inexpensive measures. These two young men are reflective thinkers who are strongly committed to social justice. By doing this project they are giving their students a useful tool for helping each to achieve an equitable future."

Honorable Mentions were awarded to undergraduates Diana Olivo for her research in support of her project entitled "Political Origins of Corruption in Venezuela" and to Dana Saad for her research in support of her project entitled "The Role of Women in Ancient Rome". Diana and Dana are both graduating seniors.

The panel of Library Research Prize judges was composed of the members of the faculty library committee and librarians. All of the applications were judged by librarians, Christina McGowan, Barbara Ghilardi and Jeremiah Mercurio. In addition, Rajasree Rajamma, Associate Professor of Marketing, and Catherine Anderson, Assistant Professor of Biology and Chair of the Library Faculty Committee, judged the Graduate submissions. Reviewing the undergraduate submissions were Adam Rugg, Assistant Professor of Communication, Elizabeth Boquet, Professor of English, Joshua Eliiot, Assistant Professor of the Practice & Director of Educational Technology and Secondary Education, Jiwei Xiao, Associate Professor and Chair of Modern Languages & Literature, and Eileen O’Shea, Associate Professor of Nursing.

Thank you to Fairfield University's School of Nursing, the Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, Dolan School of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Engineering for their financial support of the prizes, in addition to the Library's financial commitment. 

Congratulations to all our winners!

Graduate winners Walt O'Donnell and Raymond Kingsbury, Honorable mention winner Dana Saad, Undergraduate winners Lydia Dupree and Layra Cintron-Rivera, and Honorable mention winner Diana Olivo.

Choose Privacy Week's (CPW) 2018 theme is "Big Data is Watching You"

"Privacy is essential to the exercise of free speech, free thought, and free association."- Privacy: an Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

In the aftermath of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress, this year's CPW theme of Big Data is Watching You is well-timed. We have now hopefully heard the wake-up call about the pitfalls of “big data” and its impact on our privacy. "Big data" analytics poses new threats to everyone's right to privacy, especially as we rely more on (and spend more time using) mobile technology and social media. Our data is being collected, stored, shared, used and sometimes unfortunately misused.

CPW annually promotes the importance of individual privacy rights and celebrates libraries and librarians' unique role in protecting privacy. The American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee and its Privacy Subcommittee have curated some resource lists that you might want to check out:

Tools to Protect User Privacy

Student & Minors Privacy