Terrence W. Epperson, Ph.D.

Social Sciences Librarian

Greetings! As of March 1, 2004 I am the College of New Jersey Social Sciences Librarian. I serve five departments, four within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences:

• Criminology
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Sociology/Anthropology

 

and one department within the School of the Arts & Communication:

• Communication Studies

 

I also support the work of the TCNJ Municipal Land Use Center

 

Feel free to contact me by e-mail

Syllabus for FSP 124-04 The Anthropology of Cyberspace (fall semester, 2011)

 

Education

• Drexel University, College of Information Science and Technology (The iSchool), MS Degree (Library and Information Science), 2003.
• Temple University, Ph.D. Degree, Anthropology, 1991. Dissertation: "To Fix a Perpetual Brand": The Social Construction of Race in Virginia, 1675-1750.

Recent Publications

• (2009) Terrence W. Epperson, "Critical Ethnography in the VMT Project," Chapter 27 in Studying Virtual Math Teams, edited by Gerry Stahl. Volume 11 in the Springer Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series.
  
• (2008) Terrence W. Epperson and Alan Zemel, "Reports, Requests, and Recipient Design: The Management of Patron Queries in Online Reference Chats," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST) 59(14), 2268-2283, December 2008 Link for on-campus access.
• (2006) Terrence W. Epperson, "Toward a Critical Ethnography of Librarian-Supported Collaborative Learning," Library Philosophy and Practice 9(1). pdf version

Union Activity

• I am the TCNJ Library Membership Representative to Local 2364, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) .
  Directory of TCNJ AFT Membership Reps
• I am also the Librarian representative on the AFT Local 2364 Executive Board and a member of the Librarians' Committee of the statewide Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT, AFL-CIO.

Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS)

• I am currently Chair of the Anthropology and Sociology Section (ANSS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

Current Projects

• In conjunction with coauthor Miriam Rigby, I am writing the "Guide to Anthropology Resources" volume for the Sudden Selectors Guides Series to be published by Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS).
• I am one of six bloggers at Library Juice.
• During fall semester, 2011 I am teaching The Anthropology of Cyberspace in the TCNJ First Seminar Program (FSP).

Research Interests

As the TCNJ Social Sciences Librarian, my current research interests focus on the potentially crucial role of librarianship within the transformed curriculum, and I have a particular interest in the emerging field of computer-supported collaborative learning. CSCL has two interrelated concerns: 1) how can computer mediation support and enhance collaborative learning, and 2) how can social science research enhance our understanding of the collaborative process. This interdisciplinary research incorporates insights from diverse fields, including: design research (human-computer interaction), situated learning (education), ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (sociology), and activity theory (psychology). I am currently working on a literature review article that examines the potential contributions of critical ethnography to CSCL.

As a potential research focus, I am interested in partnering with teaching faculty in the social sciences to foster and enhance collaborative learning. Although SOCS (Simple Online Couseware System) was initially designed as a traditional instructional tool, the enhanced version currently being implemented also has untapped potential to serve as a collaborative learning tool.

As an anthropologist, I also have a continuing interest in race/class/gender issues, particularly the social construction and contestation of "whiteness" as a seemingly natural, innate category. I am also interested in intellectual property and cultural patrimony issues within minority communities. My interests in librarianship and anthropology are combined in concerns related to information equity and the digital divide.

 

Sample Publications (pre-TCNJ)

• (2004) Terrence W. Epperson, "Critical Race Theory and the Archaeology of the African Diaspora," Historical Archaeology 38(1):101-108. [special thematic issue: "Transcending Boundaries, Transforming the Discipline: African Diaspora Archaeologies in the New Millennium," edited by Maria Franklin and Larry McKee]

 

• (2000) Terrence W. Epperson, "Panoptic Plantations: The Garden Sights of Thomas Jefferson and George Mason," in Lines That Divide: Historical Archaeologies of Race, Class, and Gender, edited by James A. Delle, Stephen A. Mrozowski, and Robert Paynter, University of Tennessee Press.

 

• (1999) Terrence W. Epperson, "The Contested Commons: Archaeologies of Race, Repression and Resistance in New York City," in Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism, edited by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr., Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

 

• (1994) Terrence W. Epperson, "The Politics of Empiricism and the Construction of Race as an Analytical Category," Transforming Anthropology 5(1&2):15-19.

 

• (1991) Terrence W. Epperson, "Race and the Disciplines of the Plantation," Historical Archaeology 24(4):29-36.