The Authority File Round-Up: May 2025

Last month's series detailed the benefits documentaries lend teaching and learning and underscored the importance of sustaining the medium in today's political climate.

Posted on June 10, 2025 in Blog

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Conversations about the lifecycle of scholarly communication

How can universities, librarians, and publishers help ensure the sustainability of documentary filmmaking? In May we brought together faculty, filmmaker, distributor, librarian, and publisher perspectives to share tips for supporting the medium and filmmakers more broadly. Our guests detailed the myriad benefits documentary films provide teaching and learning, in addition to the ways documentaries can facilitate partnerships among librarians and faculty working on film-led curricula. May’s series also dove into the recent Sage-GOOD DOCS partnership, the importance of diverse representation on and off screen, and how librarians can serve as “custodians of cultural history.” We hope you find the episodes beneficial and eye-opening.

May’s Series

The Authority File episode graphic with speaker headshots

Last month’s TAF series featured Virginia Espino, Continuing Lecturer, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, Gisèle Tanasse, Film and Media Services Librarian at UC Berkeley, Sarah Feinbloom, a filmmaker and the founder of GOOD DOCS, Michael Carmichael, Senior Director of Library Editorial at Sage, and filmmaker Set Hernandez. Our five speakers looked at the value of documentary films, underscoring how they can help foster critical thinking and cultural awareness in students. The guests also discussed documentary collection development strategies and supporting librarians’ affordability and access concerns through flexible distribution options. Brought to you by Sage.

Listen to the episodes:

What’s Coming Up in June

This month we take a deep dive into how the humanities and social sciences (HSS) are approaching artificial intelligence. Our speaker applies a publishing lens to the topic, walking through the ways HSS perspectives have evolved since the release of ChatGPT. Our guest also considers AI’s impact on publishing and underlines insightful critiques by HSS disciplines of the technology’s ethical and social implications, helping to galvanize accountability efforts. Don’t miss the first episode.

Missed April’s series?

Listen here: Talking Infrastructure, Education, and Canada and the Blackface Atlantic

Hungry for more episodes?

Listen to the Toward Inclusive Excellence Podcast on our website, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, and Soundcloud.

You can find more episodes on our website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening! See you next month.

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The Authority File Round-Up: May 2025

Last month's series detailed the benefits documentaries lend teaching and learning and underscored the importance of sustaining the medium in today's political climate.

Conversations about the lifecycle of scholarly communication