This article considers the role of teaching and learning departments within academic libraries and how they may differ from reference and instruction departments. The author used website analysis to profile and compare the two types of departments across multiple institutions. Initial findings indicate that the two have several roles in common,…

Reference services in academic libraries often focus on user education and giving students the skills to perform their own searches. This article describes a new Research Concierge Service established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) in southwest Missouri. The service entails library staff curating a…

During the 2020 and 2021 summer semesters, the University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) transitioned to hybrid classes that were primarily distance learning with two-week inperson sections. The library offered both synchronous and asynchronous reference assistance over the summer term. An analysis showed that students favored using the…

Academic librarians have been engaged in embedded librarianship for nearly 15 years, yet there are few published research studies on the impact of physically embedded librarians, who work alongside departmental faculty. This study leveraged a change in reference service to analyze what happened when subject librarians moved from the library…

Librarians seek opportunities to improve outreach to faculty and promote shared interests in information literacy. A comprehensive review of syllabi for all undergraduate courses offered during one academic term examined course-level learning outcomes and graded assignments to see how well they aligned with the five Association of College and…

In this article, I imagine a library that prioritizes teaching users how to find, evaluate, and use information over the traditional library public service activities of collection development, access to materials, and reference services. If I ran the library, all services would support end-user education. (Contains 1 graph and 1 note.)

A customer contact center offers academic libraries the ability to consistently improve their telephone, e-mail, and IM services. This paper discusses the establishment of a contact center and the benefits of implementing the contact center model at this institution. It then introduces a practical methodology for developing a valid measurement…

Libraries nationwide are in yet another phase of belt tightening. Without an understanding of the economic factors that influence library operations, however, controlling costs and performing cost-benefit analyses on services is difficult. This paper describes a project to develop a cost model for collaborative virtual reference services. This…

The authors compare Spanish faculty use of library services and the interest they express in value-added services and improvement actions. The results are based on data from a survey of 546 faculty in the field of science and technology. The study differentiates between the areas of pure science, engineering and architecture, and life sciences.…

This study examines the use of chat in an academic library's user population and where virtual reference services might fit within the spectrum of public services offered by academic libraries. Using questionnaires, this research demonstrates that many within the academic community are open to the idea of chat-based reference or using chat for…

Describes the "Excellence in Academic Libraries" award in the university division from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Discusses the history of the award; results of the award; winning libraries as examples of excellence; cash award; and campus impact. (AEF)

Proposes that academic librarians use constructivist learning theory, primarily composition theory, to develop a pedagogy for the reference desk. Implies that reference is a form of teaching, and that to maximize their educational effectiveness, academic librarians need to approach reference transactions as academic conferences where teaching and…

One of the two major ways of interpreting LibQUAL+[TM] data involves placing perceived service quality ratings within "zones of tolerance" defined as the distances between minimally-acceptable and desired service quality levels. This study compared zones of tolerance on the 25 LibQUAL+[TM] items across undergraduate, graduate student and…

Describes changes in the undergraduate library at the University of Washington that resulted in combining the reference and computer support desks into one service desk. Discusses benefits and drawbacks to the new service and considers training, communication, the librarians' changing work environment, and expanded services. (Author/LRW)

If the effect of bibliographic instruction is to create a more self-reliant library user and information-seeker, does this mean that bibliographic instruction programs lead to a decline in the demand for reference services? This research analyzes data for 83 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic libraries over a six-year period. Each…