Public libraries offer a wide range of developmental support and learning opportunities for young children with and without disabilities. Libraries in many communities function as hubs and places of support for parenting, literacy, education, technology, as well as general local, and health information. A research team recently conducted focus…

In 2017, the Macdonald Campus Seed Library was launched at the Macdonald Campus Library of McGill University. This seed library, the first in an academic library in Quebec and the third in Canada, is an unusual, innovative program, and has generated a great deal of interest and enthusiasm from the university community. It has proven to be an…

Over the last few decades, school libraries have undergone a tremendous transformation. The technological age has ushered in a new type of library where online databases are king for research, students are issued their own laptops in one-to-one districts, and the integration of technology into the school environment has become a major initiative…

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…

As a recipient of an ALA Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Communities grant, the author's school was fortunate to receive funds to purchase books for a special program. With a librarian partner the author ran "Book Bites" during lunchtime. The aim of this program was to provide a platform for students to…

Seed libraries are a relatively new innovation in the library field, offering seeds, gardening information, and the opportunity for community and ecological engagement to members. While they are increasingly popular in public libraries, they have not yet established a foothold in academic libraries. This paper defines the nature and role of seed…

School and public librarians both strive to offer resources and services to their communities, often with limited budgets. School and public libraries offer different business hours, diverse resources, different online databases, unique facilities and makerspaces, and varying services. Both also collect materials and provide programming for many…

What began in a library science course as a collection development project serendipitously transformed into varied learning experiences for students across disciplines and program levels. This article shares the journey of how a singular lesson idea blossomed into an unintentional, multidisciplinary project that led to unexpected learning outcomes…

Often, the conversation about Detroit features the same words used over and over again: poor, broken, abandoned, blighted. But the authors' experiences in the Motor City have shown them something completely different--a community that, in the face of overwhelming challenges, maintains a profound commitment to making Detroit a better place. This…

In the twenty-first century, academic libraries and librarians have recast the narrative by turning outward, engaging more deeply across the university. No longer solely focused on collecting, libraries now embrace connecting with their campus communities to foster consumption, production, curation, preservation, collaboration, and inquiry around…

One of the issues connected to the use of standards in independent schools is the varying approaches to an astonishing variety of school missions. Independent school administrators and teachers often see national standards to be the purview of the professionals they hire. As a result, teachers and department heads work to select standards that…

Libraries Without Borders (LWB) is striving to expand access to information and bridge the digital divide across the United States by transforming everyday, informal spaces into places of learning and engagement. Such transformations could be anything from creating pop-up libraries inside laundromats to setting up interactive learning spaces in…

Finals week activities have become increasingly popular in academic libraries in the last few years, but what is a library to do when it is not allowed to have therapy dogs? This column examines a progression of increasingly popular activities at Michigan State University Libraries. Included is an assessment of what makes them popular, our…

Libraries are learning hubs that connect families to free resources, activities, and services to cultivate children's learning about topics that excite them. Despite recent technological developments which have revolutionized how we read and access information, libraries continue to evolve in order to serve their communities, especially families…

Establishing Publication Services in the library at the University of Graz did more than broaden the service portfolio of the library. A convergence of expertise at the library, needs of researchers at the university, and ongoing changes in scholarly communication also contributed to the evolution of the library's role and profile. The new…