This qualitative study explored cultural competence in two academic libraries at a major public research university in the Midwestern United States. Interviews with academic librarians, library administrators, and library staff examined the ways in which they conceptualize diversity and how these perceptions impact their daily practices. Findings…

Librarianship is constantly confronted with unexpected and quickly evolving sociotechnical challenges, yet the documents that define the core professional competencies for librarians are infrequently updated. Based upon survey responses collected from 383 working librarians located in the United States, we describe a set of gaps between current…

Research data services are increasingly offered by academic libraries. As a result, librarians may need to upskill to provide data services and build capacity. This study measures the current level of data services skills of academic librarians and explores preferred methods of continuing education. An online survey was circulated asking…

Literature in the field investigates and debates the importance of the MLIS degree in librarianship. This information is of limited use in Maine where over 30% of public library directors have only a high school diploma. The research questions guiding this Constructivist Grounded Theory study are: How do high school educated library directors in…

The path towards leadership starts with you. But you don't have to go it alone. For this book, the authors sat down with many of the library leaders they most admire for a series of conversations about the aspects of the job that they find the most fascinating (and challenging). Much like the chats you might have over coffee at a conference or…

This is the first qualitative phenomenological study to investigate the state of leadership in Saudi libraries. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 14 library leaders or section heads in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Library leadership was found to be strongly associated with management skills, visionary thinking, teamwork, and…

The modern school library is a complex social setting "grounded in standards and best practice" (AASL 2018). The new "National School Library Standards" have refreshed the student learning standards and aligned new Shared Foundations to the school library. Additionally, the competencies for learners are now complemented by…

The evolving demand for workforce skills has often been a topic of discussion at various professional library and information science (LIS) conferences and in the academic literature. Although LIS schools tend to highlight the goal of preparing future members of the LIS profession to be effective leaders, a management and leadership curriculum gap…

Bent on improving the teaching and learning experience, enhancing the productivity of researchers, and increasing the visibility of research outputs, libraries are redistributing staff, reallocating resources, and reorganizing internal structures, all to better partner campus-wide. Nowhere is the impact of this push for service innovation and user…

Family engagement is a shared responsibility among families, educators, and communities to support children's learning and development. For families, it is about the knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors that enable children to be motivated, enthusiastic, and successful learners. For libraries, this means having respectful partnerships with…

This paper examines the extent to which public librarians are successfully prepared to engage the community in digital literacy and inclusion. A qualitative, multiple case study research design was chosen, using an analysis of policy documents and existing training programs offered by the libraries together with semi-structured interviews with…

For the Spring 2015 semester of the Public Library Management course, students were given digital badges along with grades for their coursework. For each topic's corresponding assignment, students received a traditional grade and those achieving at least an A- received a digital badge that represented the skill or knowledge demonstrated. By using…