Rachel P Castro

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Courses

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Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Castro, R. P. (2021). Diversity in Music Libraries: A Look at the Recruitment and Support of Librarians from Underrepresented Communities. In Careers in Music Libraries, 4th Edition. Music Library Association.

Proceedings Publications

• Castro, R. P. (2022, November). Experiential Learning in the Curricula: Integrating the Makerspace into First-Year Engineering Coursework. In International Symposium of Academic Makerspaces (ISAM).
• Nichols, J. T., & Castro, R. P. (2022).

  Experiential Learning in the Curricula: Integrating the Makerspace into First-Year Engineering Coursework

  . In International Symposium of Academic Makerspaces, 54.

Presentations

• Castro, R. P., & Lipke, H. (2025, July).

  Utilizing Statistics for Makerspace Optimization and Curricular Integration

  . Makerspaces for Innovation and Research in Academics (MIRA) 2026. Virtual: University of La Verne.
  More info

  CATalyst Studios is an academic library makerspace at the University of Arizona, providing access to maker technology and audiovisual production spaces to both campus and their larger Tucson community. Tracking usage and collecting statistics is a part of our daily work as we strive to meet the needs of students, faculty, staff, and community members. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the different systems CATalyst Studios uses to track statistics in the makerspace, including how we use Slack, LibCal, Alma Statistics, GRIT Automation, Qualtrics, and customized Excel sheets, and why we have chosen these particular tools. Then, we will discuss how we analyze and share the statistics to make data-driven decisions for the makerspace, map outreach efforts, and negotiate with campus partners at the University of Arizona. 
• Castro, R. P., & Situ, P. (2025, January).

  Innovative Instructor-Librarian Partnerships: Embedding Maker Literacy Competencies into Curriculum & Classroom

  . Japanese Studies Association (JSA) 2025 Annual Conference. Honolulu, HI: Japanese Studies Association.
  More info

  This presentation will discuss the challenges and opportunities of utilizing innovative pedagogical methods to teach Japanese Studies. Academic libraries offer new ways to engage students through hands-on, experiential learning with makerspaces, creative technology, and tools. The emergence of maker-based competencies, aimed at cultivating cross-disciplinary and transferable skills, highlights the library and university’s dedication to fostering transdisciplinary knowledge. Librarians at the University of Arizona partner with instructors to bring Japanese Studies classes into CATalyst Studios where students engage in hands-on projects that deepen their understanding of Japan. Using experiential learning pedagogy, we make studying Japanese history and culture more dynamic and relevant to contemporary academic inquiry. Additionally, we work with instructors to integrate Maker Literacy Competencies into class activities, aligning course objectives and student learning outcomes. During these library visits librarians and instructors foster critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving in a safe and welcoming environment while allowing students to explore cutting-edge tools that enrich the exploration of Japanese history and culture.Speakers will share success stories, lessons learned, and potential strategies for enhancing faculty collaboration and increasing engagement across the  Japanese Studies program. The presentation slides and assignment documentation will be made available to attendees so they can build on our work at their institutions.
• Castro, R. P., Froehlich, H. G., & Nichols, J. T. (2024, July).

  Our Shiny Things, Their Playground: Bringing Faculty into the Makerspace Classroom

  . Makerspaces for Innovation and Research in Academics (MIRA). Virtual: University of La Verne.
• Castro, R. P., Froehlich, H. G., & Nichols, J. T. (2024, July). Our Shiny Things, Their Playground: Bringing Faculty into the Makerspace Classroom. 7th Annual Makerspaces for Innovation and Research in Academics (MIRA). Virtual: University of La Verne.
• Castro, R. P., Nichols, J., Sanchez, N., & Nakamura, M. (2023, October). People, Places and Things: how to integrate innovative library spaces with student success in and out of the curriculum. Designing Libraries X. Tucson, AZ.
• Castro, R. P. (2022, June). Education Through Experience: Using Multimodal and Hand-on Projects to Demonstrate Learning. Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative (TREC) 2022 Summit.
• Castro, R. P. (2022, November). Experiential Learning in the Curricula: Integrating the Makerspace into First-Year Engineering Coursework. International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces. Atlanta, GA.
• Castro, R. P., & Duncan, L. E. (2021, March). Working with Physical Archives. The Roots of Knowledge: Teaching Through Primary Sources and Archival Materials.
• Castro, R. P., Smith, K. A., & Beene, S. (2020, Spring). Preserve, Enhance, Reimagine: examining architecture and urban planning through a social justice lens. Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO.
• Paschke-wood, J., & Castro, R. P. (2020, May). Addressing diversity through library mentoring programs. Arizona Women in Higher Education Conference. Flagstaff, AZ.
• Wallace, N. A., Castro, R. P., & Martin, J. (2021, 2021-04-15). Primary Sources in the Sciences, Social Sciences, and Design. The Roots of Knowledge 2021 Series: Teaching through Primary Sources & Archival Materials: Six Workshops. Virtual Presentation: The Center for University Education Scholarship (CUES) at the University of Arizona.
  More info

  Featuring a panel of subject area librarians, this session will offer strategies and suggestions for using primary sources and archival materials across multiple disciplines. Librarians from the University of Arizona Libraries will share how primary sources can be valuable tools for student learning and instruction. This session will include useful information and examples for instructors in the sciences, social sciences, and design disciplines that would like to explore adding the use of primary resources to their courses. Featured Panelists:• Rachel Castro • Jim Martin • Niamh Wallace
• Castro, R. P. (2019, May). Women Support Women!: There’s No Room for Queen Bees in Optimal Workplaces. Arizona Women in Higher Education (AWHE) Annual Conference. Flagstaff, AZ: Arizona Women in Higher Education.
• Castro, R. P. (2018, 10-15-2018). Opening Up the Makerspace: Creating workshops for beginners and underrepresented communities. TENWEST/ STEAM Programming in Libraries: Programs that You Can Bring to Your Library. Tucson Convention Center.
• Castro, R. P. (2018, 10-20-2018). The Internet is Your Goodie Bag: How to find, use and share free open resources. University of Arizona Women's Hackathon. Tucson, AZ.
• Castro, R. P. (2018, 10-29-2018). Demysitfying Creative Commons. Open Access Lightning Talks/ Open Access Week. Center for Creative Photography, Tucson AZ.
• Castro, R. P., & Thwaits, A. Y. (2018, 11-02-2018). Speak Up, Speak Out: Overcoming Conversational Barriers to Raise Your Visibility and Influence. Advancing Women in Leadership Symposium. Tucson, AZ.
• Castro, R. P., & Thwaits, A. Y. (2018, May). Seeing is Believing: How our Image-Rich Culture Shapes Ideas About Higher Ed. Arizona Women in Higher Education Conference. Flagstaff, AZ: Arizona Women in Higher Education.
  More info

  What does a professor look like? Thanks to our media-rich society, the first image to come to many people’s minds is of an avuncular white man. Stereotypes like this one are barriers to equality for women and people of color in higher education that can be transcended through visual literacy education.
• Castro, R. P., & Thwaits, A. Y. (2018, May). Speak Up, Speak Out: Overcoming Conversational Barriers to Raise Your Visibility and Influence. Arizona Women in Higher Education Conference. Flagstaff, AZ: Arizona Women in Higher Education (AWHE).
  More info

  In academia, success can be determined by your recognition at work and inyour field. This workshop will examine the barriers that may influence us tokeep opinions and accomplishments to ourselves, and explore methods tobecome a better advocate for yourself and others by being active inconversation spaces.

Poster Presentations

• Halla, M., Froehlich, H. G., & Castro, R. P. (2025, May).

  Destination Imagination: Using Data Visualization and Visual Literacy to Engage with Quantitative Reasoning

  . Art Libraries Society of North America 2025 Virtual ConferenceArt Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA).
• Castro, R. P., Sanchez, N. P., & Nichols, J. T. (2024).

  Making Interns: Internship modalities utilizing Academic Library Makerspaces

  . Association of Creative Technologies in Academic Libraries (ACTAL) Annual Conference. Arlington, TX: University of Texas, Arlington.
  More info

  This poster will focus on the three types of internships offered through the University of Arizona (UofA) Library makerspace CATalyst Studios. These programs are designed to build confidence, inspire creativity, and meet the interns' personal and professional goals:CATalyst Studios Undergraduate Internship.For-credit graduate internships for MLIS students for the University of Arizona College of Information.A Student’s Journey (ASJ), a cooperative program between UofA and the Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC).This poster will model how digital, information and maker literacies can be taught through internships and will describe time requirements, curricular design and assessment of programs. 
• Castro, R. P., Sanchez, N., & Nichols, J. T. (2024).

  Making Interns: Internship modalities utilizing Academic Library Makerspaces

  . Association of Creative Technologies in Academic Libraries (ACTAL) 2024 Annual Conference. Arlington, TX.
  More info

  This poster will focus on the three types of internships offered through the University of Arizona (UofA) Library makerspace CATalyst Studios. These programs are designed to build confidence, inspire creativity, and meet the interns' personal and professional goals:CATalyst Studios Undergraduate Internship.For-credit graduate internships for MLIS students for the University of Arizona College of Information.A Student’s Journey (ASJ), a cooperative program between UofA and the Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC).This poster will model how digital, information and maker literacies can be taught through internships and will describe time requirements, curricular design and assessment of programs. 
• Castro, R. P., & Wallace, N. A. (2023, April). A data-driven analysis of the impact of academic library-supported Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thons. Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Annual Conference. Mexico City, Mexico.
  More info

  Art+Feminism (A+F) began in 2014 in response to research that documented a widespread gender gap in Wikipedia articles and spoke to a need for increased representation of cis and trans women and people of color. Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world. By supporting Wikipedia Edit-a-thons, Art+Feminism builds a community of activists committed to closing information gaps related to gender, feminism, and the arts. Academic libraries have partnered with A+F to organize and host edit-a-thons at their institutions and use an online dashboard system provided by Art + Feminism to manage events. We worked with A+F staff to download the raw data from the event dashboard to assess the overarching trends and impacts of academic library-supported edit-a-thons. This poster will present data on academic-library-hosted edit-a-thons, including how many libraries have participated, the number of articles created and edited, the number of references added, article views, the number of editors, the number of new editors per year, the languages used, etc.By presenting this poster we hope to share our own edit-a-thon experience with fellow attendees, illustrate the impact of Wikipedia edit-a-thons toward making Wikipedia a more equitable and robust platform, and gauge which information is most relevant as we plan our approach toward developing a scholarly article about our findings.
• Castro, R. P., & Paschke-wood, J. (2018, Summer). I've Been Design Thinking About You: Using Faculty Feedback to Improve Library Services. New Librarian Summit. San Jose University, CA.