Kara J. Malenfant wrote in her 2010 article "Leading Change in the System of Scholarly Communication: A Case Study of Engaging Liaison Librarians for Outreach to Faculty" that it would be interesting to revisit the University of Minnesota (UMN) Libraries in three years and see how they are doing. Malenfant had documented a culture shift…

George Kuh and Robert Gonyea's 2003 article entitled "The Role of the Academic Library in Promoting Student Engagement in Learning" appeared in "College and Research Libraries" in July 2003, after being presented as an invited paper at the ACRL 11th National Conference that April. Herein, Megan Oakleaf describes not only the…

This study examines the nature and value of undergraduate students' experiences with the academic library. The data represent responses from more than 300,000 students between 1984 and 2002 to the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Although library use did not appear to make independent contributions to desirable outcomes of college, such…

Engaging in ongoing assessment is key to libraries demonstrating their value to their institutions. This study is an initial step in a STEM library's long-term goal of measuring the library's connection to, and impact on, student academic success markers such as retention and persistence. Initial results showed that any library usage was always…

Studies about diversity initiatives in academic libraries have primarily focused on large research libraries. But what kinds of diversity work occur at smaller libraries? This study examines the status of diversity initiatives, especially those aimed at students, at national liberal arts college libraries. Results from a survey of library…

Academic librarians have always played an important role in providing research services and research-skills development to faculty in higher education. But that role is evolving to include the academic librarian as a unique and necessary research partner, practitioner, and participant in collaborative, grant-funded research projects. This article…

This case study describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a series of grants research workshops for graduate students, which were implemented to fill a gap in graduate student support. We assessed the workshops through a series of focus groups, and findings show overall satisfaction with the grants tools and workshop. However,…

This study surveying the six community colleges of the City University of New York reveals that there is much room for improvement in the interrelationship between librarians and teaching faculty. More effective communication and mutual respect would enhance the educational experience for students and provide a richer learning environment.…