Student partnership, a growing phenomenon in higher education, has transformed the way universities collaborate with students. Yet, to date, the academic library has rarely been examined as a place for student and staff partnerships to thrive. In this article, we present findings from a national students as partners benchmarking survey conducted…

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…

The School Libraries in South Australia: 2024 Census offers a snapshot of the current state, challenges, and evolving roles of school libraries and their staffing in South Australia. Conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) at the behest of the School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA), this census builds…

Purpose: Public libraries play a pivotal role in supporting education and literacy. They provide numerous services, activities, collections and resources for education and leisure. Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is an international renowned public library that provides numerous services for different users worldwide. E-learning is an emergent and…

Research support services at The University of Queensland Library (UQ Library) have evolved in response to the global and national drivers, which have impacted on broader University strategy. UQ Library's success in responding to these drivers has involved leveraging the information within, and capacity of, the institutional repository, the core…

While librarians in schools often face significant budgetary cuts, they can play an important role in supporting learning in literacy and literature. However, little is known about the practices that they may employ to this end. Of particular interest is the role of librarians in schools in supporting struggling readers, as these students may be…

Four decades of research indicates that well-staffed, well-stocked, and well-used school libraries are correlated with increases in student achievement. Well-staffed school libraries have qualified teacher-librarians with qualifications in librarianship, digital technologies, and inquiry-based pedagogies. Well-stocked school libraries include…

On 1 January 2012, early-childhood and out-of-school-hours care services were mandated to begin working under a new framework, designed to deliver greater consistency in service provision across the sector. With the aim of raising quality and driving continuous improvement through consistency among services and service ratings, the National…

Over the next few years, librarians at many Australian universities will participate in the creation of local Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This article aims to prepare librarians for this task. It begins by summarising the development of the MOOC concept and then moves on to review the growing literature on MOOCs and librarians. It…

One of the most exciting developments to occur within the library profession in recent years has been the re-evaluation of library's role in resource discovery in the web environment. This has involved recognition of short-comings of online library catalogues, a re-affirmation of the importance of metadata and a new focus on the wealth of…

In Information Studies literature there is debate about the future of the "subject librarian" as the increasing sophistication of electronic search devices leaves readers progressively more capable of seeking and interpreting information independently. As a case study, however, this essay will look at one such library professional, the…

This paper is an author-edited transcript of a presentation to the ALIA Public Libraries Summit, Canberra, July 2009. The author starts off by talking about what people know about children, early reading and a literate Australia. He then discusses three main reasons why public libraries have had success in children's literacy and related programs,…

At the end of 2006 the UNSW Library restructured its five special libraries into a new division called the Information Services Department. It was a radical restructure and provides a new model through which the Library delivers services in both the physical and online environments in a flexible and proactive manner. A pivotal role within this new…

This paper examines the reasons why, in the first half of the twentieth century, Australian librarians were encouraged to adopt professional work practices and educational standards based on US models of "democratic" librarianship. The promotion of US models of library education and association occurred both directly through government…

These Guidelines constitute the third edition of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) "Multicultural Communities: "Guidelines for Library Services." This revision follows the IFLA Section of Library Services to Multicultural Populations' "2006-2010 Strategic Plans": to review and revise the…