This compilation of articles brings together ideas on the changing roles and opportunities for academic library liaisons with faculty. Five institutions share their reorganizations and redefinitions of what it means to be a liaison in today's research library in this issue of "Research Library Issues" ("RLI"). There are many…

This article outlines some of the opportunities and challenges of changing what the library "brand" means to academic and professional services staff in the rapidly changing environment of UK higher education, taking the University of Leicester as a case study. It makes a practitioner contribution to the growing body of evidence of how…

Two academic libraries undergoing significant organizational changes were the location for a project that researched how staff members and subunits of the libraries made collective judgments, negotiated what is sometimes called the "landscape of practice"--the collective body of knowledge of their profession--and thus came to collective…

The 24-hour/5-days-per-week (24/5) model at Belk Library & Information Commons has experienced multiple changes since first implemented in 2006. First the library started small, then expanded, then reduced, and finally expanded again. This article tells the story of a library's 24/5 evolution within the assessment cycle framework, describes…

With some thought and direction, QR (quick response) codes are a great tool to use in school libraries to enhance access to information. From March through April 2013, Caitlin Ahearn interned at Sanborn Regional High School (SRHS) under the supervision of Pam Harland. As a result of Harland's un-Deweying of the nonfiction collection at SRHS,…

Nearly all academic librarians agree that academic libraries have to change in order to respond successfully to the new realities of the higher education environment, rapidly developing information and telecommunications technologies, and the crisis in scholarly communications. But there is little agreement on what must change, how the changes…

To some, discussing the demise of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system is tantamount to blasphemy, while to others it is a discussion long overdue (no pun intended). The author was asked, as an educator of librarians, to present her thoughts on the issue. Her conclusions are based not on thorough scientifically sound research, but rather…

Curation: to gather, organize, and present resources in a way that meets information needs and interests, makes sense for virtual as well as physical resources. A Northern New Jersey middle school library made the decision to curate its physical resources according to the needs of its users, and, in so doing, created a shelving system that is,…

In this article, Oakmont Regional High School (Ashburnham, Massachusetts) librarian Jeffrey Aubuchon describes how the school library is developing a new classification scheme called the Spartan system. This system seeks to mirror instructional practices at Oakmont. The major divisions of the collection will be drawn around academic departments…

Elementary school libraries are not often thought of as suitable spaces for learning commons because most elementary school libraries operate on a fixed schedule, allowing only one class at a time to use the space. Elementary school libraries are too often the drop-off location for a specific class during the classroom teacher's planning period.…

"Dewey or don't we?" is the question that hundreds, if not thousands, of school librarians across the country are currently asking themselves. Do they throw out what is old but trusted for new organizational systems, or do they continue using the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system and make changes and adjustments to the…

The Main Library Service Desk is a one-stop academic help center located between a newly renovated student-focused space called the Learning Commons and the library collections. Services began with the first day of classes, August 26, 2013, and assessment has been ongoing, in part due to the availability of data. Staffing levels, staffing hours,…

Middle school librarian Susan Grigsby believes strongly in teaching independence in book selection, and has been able to back up her belief by putting programs in place that provide evidence to show her administrators how fostering independence works. She spends time creating personal bibliographies for her students based on an interest survey.…

It was early March 2008, and the author was only a few months from finishing her third year as an elementary school librarian. During the morning recess the school library was humming with the sounds of students. Suddenly, three students rushed in asking the author to help them find a silent-reading book for class. Looking at the clock and seeing…

School librarians throughout the country struggle to determine how to enact meaningful change that will strengthen their programs. They seek ways to increase collaboration with classroom teachers, to prepare their collections to meet the needs of the new Common Core State Standards, and to offer highly effective programs that prepare students to…