Spring 2017 issue of New England Journal of Public Policy available on ScholarWorks

The most recent issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy is now available on ScholarWorks, the open access repository for scholarship and research at UMass Boston.

Describing the topics explored in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy, founding editor Padraig O’Malley writes: “This issue of the journal has three parts. The first part had its origins in a conference on extremism held at the Center for Study of Intractable Conflicts (CRIC), Harris Manchester College Oxford in October 2015; the second comprises four articles on conflicts referred to as ‘intractable’—Colombia, Syria, and Israel/Palestine—and a reflection on the Holocaust; the third is a stand-alone, one article that addresses the leadership attributes necessary to crack the iron walls of intractability.”

The New England Journal of Public Policy has been published since 1985 by the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Full issues of the open access journal are available on ScholarWorks.

In addition to the introductory note by journal editor O’Malley, who is also the John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation at UMass Boston, the contents of this issue include:

To view the full issue, and to explore back issues of this publication, click here.


ScholarWorks is the University of Massachusetts Boston’s online, open access institutional repository for scholarship and research. ScholarWorks serves as a publishing platform, a preservation service, and a showcase for the research and scholarly output of members of the UMass Boston community. ScholarWorks is a service of the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

Place in the Neighborhood: Pushed Out, Pushing Back – Latest issue of the Trotter Review available on ScholarWorks

This photograph, from an article by Jen Douglas about gentrification and Jamaica Plain’s Hyde-Jackson Squares, shows Matchstick Man to "symbolize the landlords who burned buildings they found insufficiently profitable in order to collect insurance money" and "Monopoly Man ... proudly admiring his acquisitions with the fires literally behind him.". Photo credit: Diana Shoberg (2004).

This photograph from an article by Jen Douglas about gentrification in Jamaica Plain, shows Matchstick Man to “symbolize the landlords who burned buildings they found insufficiently profitable” and “Monopoly Man … proudly admiring his acquisitions with the fires literally behind him.” Photo credit: Diana Shoberg (2004).

The most recent issue of the Trotter Review, now available on ScholarWorks, explores issues of gentrification and dispossession. As Barbara Lewis, the director of the William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, writes in her introduction to this issue of the journal, this issue of the Trotter Review explores “gentrification and its alternate, dispossession, through the lens of housing policy focused on increasing opportunity; as a strategy of neighborhood displacement; as possible collusion between developers, politicians, and members of an African heritage leadership class eager to keep their pockets jingling with gold; and as local examples of ouster and remake of a neighborhood to suit the tastes of a more moneyed population with a creamier complexion.”

The Trotter Review has been published since 1987 by the William Monroe Trotter Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Full issues of the Review are available on ScholarWorks, the open access institutional repository for scholarship and research out of UMass Boston.

Apart from an introduction by Barbara Lewis, the contents of this issue, titled “Place in the Neighborhood: Pushed Out, Pushing Back,” include:

To view the full issue, and to explore back issues of this publication, click here.


ScholarWorks is the University of Massachusetts Boston’s open access institutional repository for scholarship and research. ScholarWorks is a publishing platform, a preservation service, and a showcase for the research and scholarly output of members of the UMass Boston community. ScholarWorks is a service of the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

MOOC Design and Delivery: Latest issue of Current Issues in Emerging eLearning available on ScholarWorks

cover imageThe second in a two-part series, the new issue of Current Issues in Emerging eLearning explores the evolving landscape of “MOOC theory and practice” that has emerged in the four years since the New York Times dubbed 2012 the “year of the MOOC.”

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning launched in 2014 and is an open access, peer-reviewed, online journal of applied research and critical thought on eLearning practice and emerging pedagogical methods. The journal is published by the Center for Innovation and Excellence in eLearning, and sponsored by the College of Advancing and Professional Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Apart from a foreword by editor-in-chief Alan Girelli and by Leslie Limon, the contents of this special issue include:

To view the full issue, and to explore back issues of this publication, click here.


ScholarWorks is the University of Massachusetts Boston’s online institutional repository for scholarship and research. ScholarWorks serves as a publishing platform, a preservation service, and a showcase for the research and scholarly output of members of the UMass Boston community. ScholarWorks is a service of the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

Winter 2016 issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy available on ScholarWorks

Winter 2016 NEJPP Cover_v1 (1)--REVThe most recent issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy is now available on ScholarWorks, the open access repository for scholarship and research out of UMass Boston.

Describing the topics explored in this issue, journal founding editor Padraig O’Malley writes: “Along with two literary essays, the articles in this issue of the journal address local, national, and international public policy questions. On the literary level, one article discusses whether arguments from an older era over a white writer’s presumption that he can accurately articulate black voices and experiences, itself an unconscious bias, can throw light on racial issues roiling college campuses and other arenas of public discourse today; the second, more mellow and reflective, ponders the incongruities and congruities that surface when the author explores how the meaning of the word home depends on one’s personality as he prepares to move his family back to Massachusetts, where he grew up. Three examine questions germane to Massachusetts: one on media bias leading up to the referendum in Massachusetts on bilingual education, a second on equality of compensation among teachers in different communities in the state, and a third on racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the workplace. On the national level, one article looks at biases that explain why black women enlist in the U.S. military at higher rates than other ethnic and racial groups. And, finally, two articles on the international level. One discusses the urgent need to reorient long-term U.S. foreign policy objectives; the other makes an important contribution to understanding what might lie ahead in Iraq, if ISIL is defeated—sobering and rarely discussed.”

The New England Journal of Public Policy has been published since 1985 by the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Full issues of the open access journal are available on ScholarWorks.

In addition to the introductory note by journal editor O’Malley, who is also the John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation at UMass Boston, the contents of this issue include:

To view the full issue, and to explore back issues of this publication, click here.


ScholarWorks is the University of Massachusetts Boston’s online, open access institutional repository for scholarship and research. ScholarWorks serves as a publishing platform, a preservation service, and a showcase for the research and scholarly output of members of the UMass Boston community. ScholarWorks is a service of the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston.

Processing*: The benefits of sharing in the archival profession

Processing Manual for Archival and Manuscript Collections, by Meghan Bailey, Jessica Holden, and Joanne Riley

Processing Manual for Archival and Manuscript Collections, by Meghan Bailey, Jessica Holden, and Joanne Riley

During my time as the processing archivist in University Archives & Special Collections at UMass Boston, I’ve been working hard to ensure our processing* procedures reflect current professional standards and are efficient and consistent. To that end, I led the department in the development of a processing manual to assist students, interns, and volunteers, as well as other library and archives staff, with archival processing projects. Importantly, my colleagues Jessica Holden and Joanne Riley played pivotal roles in preparing, testing, and championing the development of this manual – not, I should add, a quick and easy undertaking!

(*Processing is the term archivists use to describe the work of making a new collection ready and available for access to researchers, students, and staff. Donated collections often come to the repository in disarray. Boxes and folders are unlabeled, disorganized, and dusty, and may contain duplicate materials and personally identifiable information. It is the archivist’s job to ensure ease of access, and to assimilate the historical relevance and material content of the collection and communicate this knowledge in the finding aid for researchers.)

As part of keeping tabs on activities in the archival professional community, I am a member of the NEAdiscuss listserv, a listserv created for the New England archives community to encourage communication and announcements pertaining to the profession.

Last week, I noticed an email come through the listserv inquiring about processing plans and workflows. Immediately after this email, several other members of the listserv responded, indicating their interest in this information.

At the University of Massachusetts Boston, we are fortunate to have ScholarWorks, an open access digital repository for scholarship and research by faculty, staff, and students at the university and managed by staff in the Joseph P. Healey Library. We had been planning to post the manual to ScholarWorks for some time and this exchange on the NEAdiscuss listserv moved us to action.

After posting our processing manual to ScholarWorks on February 11, I forwarded the link to my colleagues in listserv-land. To my surprise, the manual was downloaded 35 times in 24 hours and, as of today, the manual has been downloaded almost 50 times!

The importance of sharing ideas, workflows, and practices in the archival profession cannot be understated. It encourages collegiality and limits the duplication of effort, ultimately advancing the profession. This is especially important as archivists forge ahead with the digitization of archival collections. As nerdy as it may seem, our seemingly obsessive, hyper-vigilant focus on processes and workflows is essential to providing access to archival collections for communities of researchers, students, faculty, and staff.

I welcome any feedback or thoughts on our department processing manual. The manual will be updated periodically, as our work processes evolve to support current and new materials. Please check ScholarWorks for the most updated version.


University Archives & Special Collections in the Joseph P. Healey Library at UMass Boston collects materials related to the university’s history, as well as materials that reflect the institution’s urban mission and strong support of community service, notably in collections of records of urban planning, social welfare, social action, alternative movements, community organizations, and local history related to neighboring communities.

University Archives & Special Collections welcomes inquiries from individuals, organizations, and businesses interested in donating materials of an archival nature that that fit within our collecting policy. These include manuscripts, documents, organizational archives, collections of photographs, unique publications, and audio and video media. For more information about donating to University Archives & Special Collections, click here or email library.archives@umb.edu.