The academic library profession is being redefined by the shifting research and scholarly landscape, the transformation in higher education, and advances in technology. A survey of librarians working in Canada's research-intensive universities was conducted to explore new and emerging roles. This study focuses on librarians' activities in:…

James Neal begins this essay with the introduction of the 1996 paper, "Choosing Our Futures," by calling it a provocation, and a call to arms for the academic library community to challenge complacency and move forward toward fundamental change. Neal writes here that in the context of extraordinary economic pressures, the early…

The author reveals in this article that her action research journey in the land of evidence-based practice was not her own idea. She writes that she was lured by the profession's finest scholars who advocated for reflective dispositions for practitioners to improve their practice and demonstrate the school librarian's critical role in teaching and…

School library programs have measured success by improved test scores. But how do next-generation school libraries demonstrate success as they strive to be centers of innovation and creativity? These libraries offer solutions for school leaders who struggle to restructure existing systems built around traditional silos of learning (subjects and…

School librarians, professional library literature, and scholarly library literature tout the benefits of schools staffed with certified school librarians. However, recent reductions in library funding and elimination of school library positions suggest stakeholders do not connect the school library program to positive student learning outcomes.…

Fixed scheduling is well-researched in the school library literature. We know from this research that information skills taught in isolation from curriculum content are not as relevant to students as skills taught in the context of what they already know (McGregor 2006). Constructivism is an approach to learning that posits individuals construct…

Over the last century, school library standards have gone through a number of iterations, and expectations for student learning have evolved. While the school library of today looks and functions differently from the school library of the early 1900s, the vision surprisingly is still very similar. The goal of today's school library is to provide…

The authors compared Web usability definitions, collected from library professionals at academic institutions of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) through online surveys in 2007 and 2012, to determine whether library practitioners' perspectives had altered as information technologies evolved during this time. The authors applied three…

School libraries have been in existence since at least the eighth century. However, it wasn't until the twentieth century that the school library was seen primarily as "a source of enrichment for the curriculum, and a means of developing reading and study habits in the pupils" (Clyde 1981, 263). While the formats available and tools for…

This special issue of "portal: Libraries and the Academy" grew out of a discussion about the need for speculative, creative space within the library and information science (LIS) literature.1 While venues for exposing important research and illuminating case studies are plentiful, the LIS literature lacks an obvious platform on which to…

Libraries have undergone an extraordinary transformation over the last twenty years--from glorified book warehouse to interactive learning environment. For an architect they are currently amongst the most exciting projects to be commissioned to design. Innovation and "Next Generation" are the buzz words. However instead of exploring a first…

This article describes the roles of librarians in a research library, particularly in the digital era. Librarians' roles vary from the custodian of resources to providers of a diverse nature of activities ranging from collection development, organization of knowledge, information services, preservation and conservation, and management. Librarians…

The implementation of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts affords school librarians and their planning committees an opportunity to reinvigorate their roles in the school as curators of the school library collection, innovators in the use of instructional technology, and leaders in instructional planning. By focusing on these…

Bookstores, record stores, libraries, Facebook: these places--both physical and virtual--demonstrate an established and essential purpose as centers of community, expertise, convenience, immediacy, and respect. Yet as digital, mobile, and social shifts continue to transform culture and interactions, these spaces and places transform, too.…

School librarians play numerous roles throughout a day. They are information specialists who keep up with the constant changes in information and technology. It is important for them to keep students up-to-date and teach them to use technology properly. Gaming and technology are both important concepts for 21st-century school librarians to…