For members of the dominant culture, libraries produce largely positive affective responses (Farkas). However, researchers and practitioners in the field of library science have identified a need to make library resources more accessible to patrons from marginalized communities who are excluded from library spaces by institutional policies and…

The role of public libraries is changing in response to a multitude of influences and trends. The exponential growth of technology as the primary method of information access, funding challenges, changing demographics, and other mitigating factors have forced public libraries to become more than book repositories. Community library leaders and…

The problem undertaken in this study was the impact of the COVID-19 on academic-library directors at small, private, liberal-arts institutions in Wisconsin. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic closures on collection development and reference interviews. The participants were seven academic-library…

Pennsylvania has experienced a significant reduction in certified K-12 school librarian positions. This exploratory sequential mixed methods research study explored principal decision-making impacting K-12 school library programming. 30 survey participants and 8 interview participants located across 3 IUs in PA took part in this research study.…

School librarians support access to information and resources in the school library. In a time of misinformation and fake news, access to accurate and timely information is key. School librarians work to serve the needs of all students in every learning environment including alternative, remote, and face to face. At the same time, school…

This study examines the research and scholarship sharing and dissemination practices in an online environment among law school faculty. Guided by one of the most widely used technology usage and adoption models, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), it investigates law school professors' attitudes and perceptions toward…

Many Americans lack the skills required to use public access computers and the Internet at public libraries (PLs). Staff members of a PL in the Midwestern United States provide basic computer training to support patrons' Internet and public access computer use. However, adult patrons who are beyond the basic skills level and those with…

Dissemination of news and information is often challenging in small, rural communities, where sprawling geography and limited resources can limit the effectiveness of communication systems. While traditional media and local organizations attempt to inform the public through newspapers, flyers, radio, social media, and word of mouth, no one means…

Library research studies have provided evidence that teacher-librarians (TLs) impact student academic success; nevertheless, TLs statewide and internationally are at a critical juncture due to stakeholder groups' ambiguous perceptions regarding their influence on student achievement. The problem in this study involves a local independent school…

The purpose of this study was to examine ways foreign-born graduates of West African descent (WAD) at a midsize community college achieve college education and what lessons we learned about their motivation, success, and barriers to success. The researcher used qualitative research methodology for this study, which was designed to measure this…

In the United States, individual states have different means of determining and distributing funding. This influences library service and access to information particularly as it pertains to critical Internet access. Funding and service trends have changed, especially as it relates to public libraries, with some modifications working to their…

One pressing issue in libraries today is the censorship of information. This study applies Kurt Lewin's gatekeeping theory to examine the decision-makers as well as the different pressures and constraints that are at issue in decisions regarding challenges and censorship attempts that occur in public libraries. Through an in-depth case study of…

Millions of books from public libraries and private collections have been scanned by various organizations in the last decade. The motivation is to preserve the written human heritage in electronic format for durable storage and efficient access. The information buried in these large book collections has always been of major interest for scholars…

Given that research has shown that audiobooks impact literacy for youth in a number of ways, and since school librarians typically serve as gatekeepers of audiobook collections in school libraries, this study examined the attitudes of school librarians in Texas toward audiobooks. Using a multiliteracies framework to guide this research, this study…

Soon after the university movement started in the late 1800s, academic libraries became the dominant providers of the tools and services required to locate and access scholarly information. However, with the advent of alternate discovery services, such as Google Scholar, in conjunction with open access scholarly content, researchers now have the…