The problem undertaken in this study was the impact of the COVID-19 on academic-library directors at small, private, liberal-arts institutions in Wisconsin. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic closures on collection development and reference interviews. The participants were seven academic-library…

The academic library middle manager (ALMM) role is little understood and understudied. Using Organizational Role Theory, Middle Managers' Four Strategic Roles, and the Taxonomy of Managerial Performance Requirements as frameworks, this study was designed to identify and describe the expectations of the middle manager role in academic libraries; to…

This article explores and examines the state of library services through interviewing a small group of directors, associate deans, and associate university librarians of public services and identifying common themes and insightful views on this area of librarianship. The participants respond to the same set of questions that cover topics including…

The role of the academic library has shifted from developing book collections to serving the information and technology needs of students and faculty. The needs of library users change more quickly and unpredictably than the needs of books, and library directors have pushed beyond the traditional incremental approach to library development to…

One pressing issue in libraries today is the censorship of information. This study applies Kurt Lewin's gatekeeping theory to examine the decision-makers as well as the different pressures and constraints that are at issue in decisions regarding challenges and censorship attempts that occur in public libraries. Through an in-depth case study of…