The author describes her view on the possibilities of what academic libraries might become or cease to be in a speculative future. Her description seems more like a virtual world than reality. The author writes with the intention of providing insights that might fuel the creation of vital futures for academic libraries and librarians.

The information explosion coupled with the electronic or virtual era has brought great changes to libraries and its working environment. This paper therefore looks at the concept of library within an academic environment. The knowledge society was also described vis-a-vis the changing roles of libraries and librarians. The paper concludes by…

We conducted a survey of the winners of University of California (UC) Berkeley's Library Prize for Undergraduate Research (2003-2016) to learn about the long-term impact of undergraduate research projects on students, find out what winners gained from the experience, and compare their careers post-graduation with other students. Seventy-four…

Researchers at Brigham Young University studied first-year students' information evaluation behaviours of open-access, popular news-based, non-academic source material on a variety of subjects. Using think-aloud protocols and screen-recording, researchers coded most and least used evaluation behaviours. Students most used an article's sources,…

There is value in being a lifelong reader and writer; yet, preservice teachers frequently do not exhibit these attributes. As an educator of future teachers, the author of this article reflects on practice. One goal in working with these education students is to develop their competencies in the use of literary strategies, with a secondary goal of…

This paper discusses the planning and implementation of Open Badges in library and information science education at Tallinn University in order to foster and personalise student learning. The first part of the paper gives an overview of the concept and nature of Open Badges through a review of literature, the second describes the use of Open…

Academic institutions invest significant sums of money to serve their students and to influence their decisions to stay. This study sheds light on the challenge for academic institutions to allocate their investments to keep students and enhance their retention rates. This study aims to investigate whether or not providing academic services has…

Open educational resources (OERs) are increasingly adopted in non-formal education contexts. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the self-directed learning patterns of non-formal learners using OERs. A lack of knowledge about non-formal learners precludes discussions on how to support their self-regulated learning in open…

Given that much of the research on classroom libraries focus on elementary school classrooms, this study sought to examine classroom libraries at the middle school level. Access to books is especially important for middle school students given the persistent decline in reading engagement at this level. The research questions guiding this…

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the design of a first year introduction to digital fluency course primarily for a library and information technology cohort at a Canadian university using an educational action research method and apply the findings to the second "question-plan-observe-evaluate" cycle of the action…

This research discusses the electronic resources, types and divisions, it also deals with mechanism for evaluation resources of electronic information in general with concentration on concept of assessment and evaluation objectives as well as the organizers of the process in addition, the research also shows benefits of evaluation and its impact…

Sometimes users need to be asked if they need help. This is difficult with online users, because in-person cues cannot be used to engage when the users need assistance. Proactive chat widgets help to solve this problem as the chat box slides out onto the screen and prompts the user for help. The need for the proactive chat widget was also seen as…

Usability testing that includes people who are fluent in assistive technology is an important way to ensure that digital products meet the needs of all users. In settings such as universities, with highly distributed content creator networks and vast differences in project sizes and scopes, it can be challenging for non-experts to find and use the…

Movement to fully open-access electronic scholarly publication has been hampered by the conflicting interests of universities, private publishers, researchers themselves, and those who fund research. The situation interacts strongly with traditions regarding peer review and the ways in which researchers establish stature within their fields.…

In 2010 the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) responded to rapid changes in school libraries by convening the "Wisconsin School Library Summit: Envisioning 21st Century Learners and School Library Media Programs." Summit participants discussed the future of school libraries in Wisconsin. During the summit, several…