College fluency can help students successfully engage with and self-advocate within the culture and bureaucracy of higher education institutions to achieve their goals. To further examine and develop effective strategies to foster college fluency, the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library (BMCC) and Ithaka S+R have collaborated on the…

Pennsylvania has experienced a significant reduction in certified K-12 school librarian positions. This exploratory sequential mixed methods research study explored principal decision-making impacting K-12 school library programming. 30 survey participants and 8 interview participants located across 3 IUs in PA took part in this research study.…

This article describes how the Penn State University Libraries have responded to the unique challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presents to international student populations. Additionally, the authors discuss support and service programs for international students that may ease the disruptions expected in upcoming semesters. A collaborative…

In this study, researchers investigated the library experiences of Black undergraduate students at Penn State in University Park, a predominately white institution. Their goal was to improve services and spaces and to highlight and validate experiences with race, racism, and microaggressions on campus and in the library. Twenty undergraduate…

COVID-19 did not disrupt higher education; it hastened the disruptions that have already been taking place. One particularly prominent disruption is the digital shift, or the move from primarily face-to-face operations to operations with a large digital component. In order to survive, higher education needs to fundamentally change. But how…

In March 2020, many academic librarians were abruptly forced into an online service environment due to the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Although some librarians had been providing synchronous video reference consultations prior to the pandemic, evidence of the practice in Library Science literature is scant. This paper presents scenarios…

This article discusses the difficulties Kutztown University's Rohrbach Library- and many libraries- face when evaluating eBook collections, and the process used to overcome some of the obstacles to making meaningful comparisons. Two multidisciplinary eBook subscription packages, EBSCO and ProQuest, are the focus of this study. Data collected from…

Library orientations are a very common learning experience for residential and online students. These all have similar goals of introducing students to the library and helping them feel more comfortable in navigating the library. The Library Connection is a unique type of library orientation that provides meaningful feedback to students in a…

There is a great deal of literature exploring the subscription and purchase models available for streaming video. However, explorations into the use of streaming video and how it compares to that of DVDs have not been done. The author identified a sample set of films at Penn State University Libraries owned in DVD format and available on the…

Geospatial services in academic libraries are now common at many institutions, especially in the United States. The challenge now faced by geospatial services providers is to evolve and adapt their skills and service offerings in response to changes in research, teaching, and learning communities. Online survey instruments are a common tool used…

This article presents an innovative textbook reserve program at a mid-sized academic library. Research conducted subsequent to the program's launch showed a positive correlation between students' use of the program and their perceived academic success. In addition, the program has proved effective at helping students with college affordability.…

Research libraries have been engaged in discussions of the functionalist approach versus the liaison model. While some have adopted a hybrid model that overlays functionalists with liaisons, few have abandoned the liaison structure. This article demonstrates a successful nonliaison approach that prioritizes teaching and focuses on building…

Inspired by the 2017 Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Conference's collective collection theme, the authors undertook a study to better understand the consortium's resource-sharing needs for Spanish and Portuguese materials published in Latin America. The authors employed multiple technologies to expedite gathering, reconciling, and analyzing…

Science curricula in academic settings increasingly emphasize the importance of fostering students' science communication skills through coursework and projects. One technique used to build students' multimedia communication skills is digital storytelling. Digital storytelling allows students to tell a subjective story that engages an audience's…

Can a floating collection thrive in a large multicampus academic research library? Floating collections have been successful in public libraries for some time, but it is uncommon for academic libraries and unheard of for a large academic library system. This article will discuss the investigation into the feasibility of a floating collection at…