As the modes of course development in universities shift to be more team-based, librarians are now contributing core components of course development operations. This article outlines the ways that librarians at Capella University have been integrated systematically into course development. Adding librarians to specific points throughout the…

This study identifies the successes and challenges associated with the addition of a nonlibrary service desk in a university library's learning commons. The authors wanted to know whether a training and service collaboration with an outside unit could reliably and efficiently connect students to the librarians, academic support services, and other…

In summer 2017, the University of Birmingham reconfigured from a subject librarian model of academic library support to a functional or task-based model, including the creation of a dedicated Engagement Team. Using case studies from the new team, an internal survey of staff across the University alongside a survey of librarians from other…

Librarians were concerned that transfer students' information literacy skills lagged those of their peers because transfers did not receive the library instruction that other students got in first-year classes. The investigators conducted semi-structured interviews with transfer students to answer two research questions: (1) How do transfer…

To create more direct and equal collaborations with faculty, the University of Minnesota Libraries in the Twin Cities adapted a new model of engagement: the "Research Sprints." Research Sprints place librarians in direct proximity with faculty to rapidly and collaboratively work on a component of a research project in less than a week.…

Comics and cartoons are valued in twenty-first century popular culture and are increasingly used as 'Applied Comics' to help communicate key messages and information in society. However, there is less evidence of cartoons and comics being used to communicate with and engage library users in learning, information literacy (IL) and research support.…

This article describes the development of online modules to introduce students to information and resources needed to be successful while pursuing a Bachelors or Masters Degree in social work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The course was developed by faculty at the University Libraries in collaboration with the Bachelor of…

The article explores the recent experiences encountered by the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) Library, Zimbabwe in the daily operations of its institutional repository (IR) with emphasis on security and ethical issues. It examines the present scenario in the management of the IR. BUSE Library set up an IR to archive and enable…

Due to a lack of diversity found in the maker movement, makerspaces are going through an evaluation. Academic libraries have an opportunity to rebuild makerspaces and programming from a place of equity. At a University located in the Midwestern United States, the Library maker program collaborated with the Asian American and Asian Resource and…

This paper focuses on the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic library operations. In the quest to render fast, effective and efficient services, academic libraries have adopted different technologies in the past. Artificial intelligence technologies is the latest among the technologies…

Anecdotal evidence implies that students use library spaces for spiritual practices at many colleges and universities. Using focus groups, the authors investigated students' prayer behaviors on four regional campuses of a large research university, asking questions about students' frequency of prayer, campus areas used for devotions, and students'…

The use of systematic review as a research method has become increasingly prevalent in the social and human sciences. However, the role of the librarian in delivering library and information skills (LIS) support in this area remains relatively undocumented, in contrast with the health sciences where systematic review support is often highly…

The study analyzes how chat reference providers refer patrons to subject specialists in 467 interactions from two years at a university library. Qualitative analysis showed variation in how referrals are presented: as an option versus a recommendation, putting follow-up in the hands of patrons versus librarians, and apologizing versus promoting…

Download rates of academic journals have joined citation counts as commonly used indicators of the value of journal subscriptions. While citations reflect worldwide influence, the value of a journal subscription to a single library is more reliably measured by the rate at which it is downloaded by local users. If reported download rates accurately…

The literature about academic libraries takes a strong interest in the future, yet little of it reflects on academic libraries' underlying stance toward the years ahead: is there a sense of change or continuity? Is there optimism or pessimism? Consensus or divergence? This article explores these questions using data from interviews with a broad…