Academic libraries have long been called the heart of their campuses. As priorities have shifted away from print collections and other repository services, college libraries have expanded their services to be welcoming spaces that support students' sense of belonging and meet a wide range of needs. This is perhaps especially true of community…

This case study details how a community college library, in response to rising textbook costs and COVID-related closures, advocated for and received an increase in funding to provide online copies of many textbooks in its reserve collection. It also provides a glimpse into the roadblocks acquisitions librarians might encounter in trying to bolster…

Reference services in academic libraries often focus on user education and giving students the skills to perform their own searches. This article describes a new Research Concierge Service established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) in southwest Missouri. The service entails library staff curating a…

Teaching is a core role for librarians in academic contexts, although most librarians are not formally prepared to teach and encounter significant challenges in the role, including complex relationships with campus colleagues. The purpose of this research was to explore how community college librarians, an understudied population, understand their…

Community colleges educate an estimated two-fifths of United States college students. Yet community college librarians do not disseminate enough research to enable their colleagues and their libraries to reach their potential. Little is known about what types of supportive measures might increase productivity. The authors collected quantitative…

Using cross-institutional survey data from 407 first-year college students, differences in information literacy preparation and academic library experiences between community college students and students at four-year institutions are examined. Results show that first-year community college students are more likely to be novice library users,…

This paper shares the results of semi-structured interviews with 30 community college librarians who have instruction duties. The interviews explored these librarians' perceptions of students' information literacy (IL) strengths and weaknesses as well as their views of students' self-perceptions. Participants believe that students are confident in…

This paper will use circulation data to explore usage trends for physical textbooks in an academic library over a sustained period of time. Conclusions will be drawn from the analysis to determine the usefulness of aging physical textbook collections in academic libraries and inform recommendations for efficient models of lending and management.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to illustrate the experiences of transfer students interacting with community college librarians for instruction and research assistance. This research study was guided by one research question: (RQ1) How do transfer students at community colleges who frequently meet with their community college…

During the Fall 2017 semester, staff at the Hudson County Community College (HCCC), Library began to notice that many books listed as available in the catalog were often not being found on the shelves when patrons attempted to retrieve them. This situation puzzled library leadership because HCCC had recently conducted an inventory and removed all…

This study explores the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) community college faculty's perspectives on the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" ("Framework"). Previous studies of the "Framework" implementation have…

While working at a fast paced reference desk at a busy community college, a librarian may encounter many challenging questions and situations. One such problem that may exist on a community college level is that of the very needy student, who not only has issues with information literacy, but with reading competency and computer literacy. The…

Wright College is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and community college in Chicago, Illinois serving around 10,000 students per year. The majority of our students are First Generation, 36% are Pell-eligible, about 60% work in addition to taking classes, and many take advantage of the Healthy Market for free groceries on campus. In 2021 the college…

Librarians at a community college in New York City identified that, unassisted, undergraduate students often find it difficult to categorize the various information formats they are locating and citing, such as a newspaper article, a book, a scholarly article, a blog or wiki entry, or a reference source. Due to their untrained approach defining…

An online survey in Florida and New York of community college librarians with responsibility for information literacy instruction provides a snapshot of instructional objectives and practices, including librarians' beliefs about students' information literacy needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Survey results point to the influence of the…