This study explores how acquisitions practices and infrastructure influence building diverse distinctive collections within Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member institutions. Through a survey of the existing acquisitions practices within ARL institutions, this study interrogates the collections-based methodologies that are utilized to…

Academic and research libraries are undergoing a profound transformation, shaped by technological advancements, shifting societal dynamics, and evolving institutional priorities. This essay examines how these forces are driving libraries to evolve into specialized and distinct models, shaping their future and drawing parallels to the Cambrian…

Policy language plays a central role in ensuring that academic libraries are accessible and inclusive to patrons with disabilities. However, relevant accessibility information is often missing from publicly available library policies. This article uses findings from a content analysis of SUNY libraries' public collection development and…

Even as librarians have spent the past twenty years documenting the rich world of scholarly communication beyond the catalog, repositories and catalogs too often remain completely siloed from each other. Current practices and tools to unite the two focus entirely on matching names, an imprecise method requiring substantial time spent on review.…

This exploratory study seeks to gather preliminary information about the roles that academic librarians in the United States (US) and Canada play in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) work on their campuses. It also provides insight into how librarians at US Carnegie Research 1 (R1) classified universities and U15 Group of Canadian…

The purpose of this study is to learn more about virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) practices at the United States' top one hundred university libraries, as well as how they are engaging with the metaverse. We conducted qualitative and descriptive analysis on the websites of the top one hundred university libraries in the United…

We examined the process of implementing support for students with disabilities at 16 of 285 Japanese academic libraries, using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA) for interview analysis. We found that support was introduced simultaneously through daily library operations, and was tailored to the needs of individual students. Training and…

This qualitative research study explored current reference models in academic libraries to determine what's working well and what isn't. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 participants overseeing reference services at large, land-grant universities. The findings suggest that there is still perceived value in point-of-need,…

In this chapter, we explore the organizational units, projects, and support that exist for digital literacy within the Vanderbilt University Library system. We frame the chapter chronologically, starting with the efforts of the past, then moving toward the present efforts, and concluding with where future efforts are going.

This paper examines the impact of process mapping on the management of change in an academic library in a UK higher education institution. Book ordering has been highlighted by a group of subject librarians as being time-consuming and inefficient, detracting from their ability to respond to new challenges and opportunities. An action research…

This exploratory and qualitative study examined the appraisal practices of archivists in university special collections, including how archivists define appraisal, decide what to keep and discard, apply a collection policy in their decision process, and contend with problematic aspects of the practice. The first part of this study examined the…

The research aimed to understand the behavior of users of pages containing the content of Library Instruction, which was published on the academic library website. The collected research material was to be used to describe events taking place on selected pages. Two research methods were used to achieve the goal: statistical research and…

Institutional repositories (IRs) remain a powerful tool for opening, sharing, and preserving scholarship. Scholarly communication (SC) services and resources are essential to promoting and supporting IRs. Linking SC services within an IR offers support to users at their point of need. This study investigates the prevalence of web linking between…

Dahlgren Memorial Library, the Graduate Health and Life Sciences Research Library at Georgetown University implemented the circulation of room keys in 2007. The rooms were outside of the library and managed by Georgetown University School of Medicine's Office of Financial Affairs who were integral in the implementation of the keys and the…

Academic librarians invest significant time and effort in developing and maintaining research guides, yet the extent to which these tools effectively support college students' information literacy development remains uncertain. This scoping review aimed to comprehensively examine the existing literature on the effectiveness of academic library…