Temple University Libraries has an exciting lineup of qualitative research-related workshops and events this semester! See the full list and register here.  

Staff members from the Libraries offer help with qualitative data, analysis, and QDA software and tools. Learn more about our support for qualitative research on the Libraries’ website.  Keep reading to learn more about the events we have planned this semester to bring together qualitative researchers at Temple. 

Join us for the keynote presentation of Love Data Week, with Temple University Department of Criminal Justice Associate Professor and qualitative researcher Dr. Jamie Fader. 

Most researchers learn from our earliest training about the importance of objectivity in our work. As scholars attempting to analyze the social justice movements of our time, however, we may also ask whether love may inform our research in meaningful ways. Dr. Fader will discuss the role of love (e.g., empathy, humanity, and connectedness) in qualitative social research and make the case that both validity and equity can be served by drawing on love as a research tool. To make the case love should be a component of our research toolkits, Dr. Fader will draw on her research on justice system-impacted Philadelphians.

Jamie Fader is a sociologist, book author, and ethnographer in Temple’s Department of Criminal Justice. Her research examines the lived experience of criminal legal system involvement, especially on members of vulnerable communities, such as adolescents, boys and men of color, and LGBTQ emerging adults. Her upcoming book On Shifting Ground: Constructing Manhood on the Margins was published by the University of California Press in December.  

This online workshop, presented by the Qualitative Data Repository Associate Director Dr. Sebastian Karcher, will address the ethical and logistical challenges of sharing qualitative research data. 

In 2022, the US government announced stringent requirements for data sharing for all recipients of federal grants. The requirements have been in place for National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants since early 2023 and have just been announced by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for 2025. These new requirements pose challenges to qualitative research, where data has, in the past, rarely been shared. In this workshop, Dr. Karcher will discuss some of the ways to address the ethical and logistical challenges of sharing qualitative research data. Attendees will learn practical, hands-on strategies to facilitate both responsible research and data sharing spanning the entire course of research: research design, informed consent, documentation, and data publication.  

Sebastian Karcher is the Associate Director of the Qualitative Data Repository and Research Assistant Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. His research focuses on research transparency, management, and curation of qualitative data and the intersection of digital technology and scholarship. The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) is a dedicated archive for sharing qualitative and multi-method research data and is hosted by the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry, a unit of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Learn more about Temple’s QDR membership on the Libraries’ QDR guide.  

Join us for other online workshops on qualitative data analysis this semester, taught by members of Temple Libraries’ qualitative research support team: 

This image was created using Adobe Firefly and is in the public domain.

Guest post by Kristina De Voe, English and communication librarian

Temple University Libraries is celebrating National News Literacy Week from January 22 to January 26, 2024. National News Literacy Week is an annual initiative that turns a spotlight on local news and its role in a healthy democracy.

What is News Literacy?

News literacy, according to News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan education nonprofit, is “the ability to determine the credibility of news and other information and to recognize the standards of fact-based journalism to know what to trust, share and act on.”

In our current era of mis-and disinformation, news literacy is a critical skill. It teaches you how to think about the news and information you come across daily but not necessarily what to think about any particular source. News literacy also helps you develop a healthy skepticism about the quality of news and information you encounter, without becoming cynical about it.

Access Digital Newspapers and Magazines

Do you know that the Libraries offer access to many digital newspapers and magazines? Titles including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Washington Post are freely available to the Temple community via our library databases. These digital resources can help you stay up to date on news, current events, and timely conversations all from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. Discover our news-focused databases using our Find Newspapers guide.

Pro Tip: Curious whether the Libraries offer access to a particular magazine or newspaper online? You can search Library Search by title to find out. If the library has a particular publication, there will be a list of the databases to which the library provides access along with a link to the publication.

National News Literacy Events at Temple

To mark National News Literacy Week, the Libraries will offer the following online workshops:

Guest post by Kristina De Voe, English and communication librarian with the Open Education Group 

Did you know that each semester Temple University Libraries provide a list of textbooks that are available as library ebooks? The list is based on information Temple faculty submit to the campus bookstore. These materials are free for Temple students. Use our Etextbooks Available Through the Libraries page to find your course and see if your textbook is on the list! 

Why the Libraries Collect Textbooks 

Since 2017, the Libraries have purchased ebook copies of course texts whenever possible. The Libraries are committed to reducing barriers to access a rich array of resources for our campus and the wider community. One way we work to achieve this is by supporting textbook affordability. For example, in the 2022-23 academic year, the Libraries offered electronic access to 33% of course texts, saving students an estimated $732,500. 

The number of ebooks that the Libraries acquire each semester varies as not everything is available in electronic format. Textbook publishers like Pearson or Cengage usually do not sell ebooks to libraries. When an ebook is available to us, we prefer to get licenses that allow multiple simultaneous users, however, in some cases, we need to purchase single-user licenses, which means they can only be read or used by one person at a time.  

Get Help 

Students: Have questions about whether a textbook for your Temple class is available via the Libraries? Contact us!

Faculty: Did you know you can use the Barnes & Noble Adoption Insight Portal (AIP) to adopt a library ebook for your course? Have questions about whether the Libraries can purchase materials for your class? Need help determining what is already available? Looking for instructions on how to link a library ebook in Canvas? Contact your subject librarian or specialist.