Expanding on the Groundwork: Bridging Fields Issue 2

By Mark Lindenburg, Alex Sniatkowski, and Claire Charvet

Student Editors

Bridging Fields began as a space for students in the first year of LIU/NYU’s Dual Degree MSLIS program to publish their work. The Dual Degree program provides a unique intellectual framework, in which students pursue coursework in two master’s degrees: one in library science, and the other in a subject specialty of their choosing. The work generated by these students is inherently interdisciplinary and reflective of the innovative scholarship in the LIS field. The purpose of Bridging Fields was to provide these students with a platform to share their research and interact with a broader community of library and information researchers and professionals.

The first issue of Bridging Fields came from a collaboration between Harris Bauer (MA, Archives and Public History, MSLIS, 2024) and Dual Degree faculty (Roxane Pickens, Alexandra Provo, Laurie Murphy, and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz). They utilized the unique perspectives of Dual Degree students to build a journal from the ground up as a forum for students to share their research. For the second issue, we have worked under the guidance of Bauer and Roxane Pickens to expand on these goals. Issue 2 features a new cohort of scholars that expand the scope of the journal with the publishing of their exciting, new interdisciplinary scholarship. They provide readers and writers an enriching engagement with libraries and archives, approaching their value from unique perspectives. As the journal expands, we hope to broaden the scope of contributors from Dual Degree students to early career librarians and other related professionals.

This issue demonstrates the flexibility of scholarship in the LIS field with writing that considers ethics, technology, accessibility, and praxis. Works from Lily Sellei and Olivia Mastrosimone present questions of how we engage with archives, critically assessing what we can know from them and what we deserve to know from them. June Ofstedal, Sophie Warth, and Claire Charvet provide three reflections on librarianship, interrogating issues such as vocational awe and intellectual freedom through the perspectives of the reference interview, patron, and library liaison. Adeline Rong and Alex Sniatkowski consider different information technologies, engaging with their contemporary and historical applications. Eric Jiefei Deng’s article on the marginalization of non-roman scripts in OPACs explores the possibilities inherent in new library technologies for greater inclusivity and accessibility for global patrons. These fundamentals of library practice are further reflected in essays by Stewart Love and Vera Madey, which depict archival and acquisition projects designed to promote the dissemination of intellectual and creative work.

The creation of this issue was defined by empathy and open communication, in alignment with Bridging Fields’ focus on supporting emerging interdisciplinary scholarship. Our status as current and past students of the Dual Degree program informed every step of our editorial process from receiving initial submissions to final edits. Our visual identity underscores Bridging Fields’ core ethos of connection in its enduring motif of “connecting the dots.” Different points come together and bounce off one another, just as they do in this issue.

The inclusion of student editors from different academic cohorts has allowed for open communication between contributors and editorial staff in the development of this issue. Editors Mark Lindenburg (English ’25) and Alex Sniatkowski (English ’26) have worked to develop this dialogue along with editor Claire Charvet (Art History ’26), who has also used her artistic prowess to create a new visual identity for the journal. We hope that readers take the curation of this issue as an opportunity to expand library scholarship and strengthen the journal for many years to come.

Mark Lindenburg, Alex Sniatkowski, Claire Charvet.