This exploratory study examined the rates of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership among academic library deans, directors, and university librarians to see if any differences in leadership styles existed by gender, age and experience of the leaders, and type of institution in which they worked. The study found no…

Digital Humanities (DH) is a hot topic, in demand and on the rise. This article begins with excerpts from job listings that were posted to the American Library Association's job list in a two-month span in spring 2015 and they seem to indicate that DH is an increasingly important competency and interest for academic librarians who perform…

Most academic library instruction is limited to one class period, despite empirical evidence that this approach is likely less effective than more sustained instruction. To determine if additional sessions would boost student learning and reduce library anxiety, the authors collaborated with representatives from a program for at-risk…

This study analyzes the requirements and preferences of 171 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academic librarian positions in the United States as advertised in 2013. This analysis compares the STEM background experience preferences with the Carnegie rankings of the employing institution. The research examines the extent to which…

Do librarians with different characteristics, such as type of work responsibilities or age, have different learning styles? The authors analyzed results from over 1,500 responses to a version of the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire based on the Felder-Silverman Learning Styles model. This model consists of eight dimensions paired on…

Patron-Driven Acquisitions (PDA) is a new model used for e-book acquisition by academic libraries. A key component of this model is to make records of ebooks available in a library catalog and let actual patron usage decide whether or not an item is purchased. However, there has been a lack of research examining the role of the library catalog as…

This article presents the results of a Web-based survey regarding the circulation of tablets in academic libraries. The survey, which was completed by 61 respondents, identifies the most common circulation policies and procedures used. These results will help other academic institutions develop their own policy or update existing ones. Areas of…

In his article "The McDonaldization of Academic Libraries?" Brian Quinn explores to what extent and to what effect academic libraries have become "McDonaldized," according to the concept developed by sociologist George Ritzer. Quinn identifies a number of ways in which the four dimensions of…

Academic librarianship has had a traditional role encompassing various specialisms: subject support, training, journal subscription management, collection development and user engagement front of house. While many of these roles remain, they should be re-evaluated. New competencies and skillsets in teaching, publishing, bibliometrics, impact, data…

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…

This article uses the case study of developing a collaborative "out-of-hours" virtual enquiry service by members of the Northern Collaboration Group of academic libraries in the north of England to explore the importance of communication and collaboration between academic library services in enhancing student learning. Set within the…

With the growing number of online courses and programs across the higher education spectrum, the need to train faculty to effectively design and deliver online courses has become essential to many institutions. However, many professional development options do not include information or support in order to transition the same library services and…

Although cited reference studies are common in the library and information science literature, they are rarely performed in nonacademic institutions or in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. In this paper, we analyze more than 400,000 cited references made by authors affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration between…

When asked to print the full text of an article, many undergraduate college students print the abstract instead of the full text. This study seeks to determine the underlying cause(s) of this confusion. In this quantitative study, participants (n = 40) performed five usability tasks to assess ease of use and usefulness of five commercial library…

Evidence-based practice (EBP), like information literacy, is concerned with an individual's knowledge, skills, and attitudes relating to using information. EBP is now a professional competency in fields as diverse as social work, nursing and allied health fields, and public policy. A comparison of the Association of College and Research Libraries'…