Academic and research libraries are undergoing a profound transformation, shaped by technological advancements, shifting societal dynamics, and evolving institutional priorities. This essay examines how these forces are driving libraries to evolve into specialized and distinct models, shaping their future and drawing parallels to the Cambrian…

This article provides background information about evidence synthesis, the process of collecting, evaluating, and summarizing results from multiple studies that have investigated the same research question. The article also examines the critical role of librarians in conducting evidence synthesis, and examines the accelerating uptake of systematic…

Digital badging has seen widespread adoption within the US higher education sector with continued growth predicted. Might digital badging present an underrealized opportunity for libraries seeking new vehicles through which to deliver information literacy instructional content? This paper offers an analysis of badging in higher education and…

This case study discusses the implementation of formal organizational learning activities at the Richard G. Trefry Library, which serves the American Public University System, an accredited, for-profit, asynchronous institution of higher education. Discussed are the challenges and solutions throughout the implementation processes along with the…

Librarians provide instruction for students across disciplines, each with their own teaching and learning practices. An exploration of signature pedagogies will help librarians develop a deeper understanding of student learning. This article identifies reflective pedagogy as a teaching strategy librarians can use to expand upon this learning by…

The COVID-19 pandemic peeled back long-held assumptions about what is wanted, needed, and possible within academia. Many academic libraries had failed to fully imagine the potential uses of online and, in short, missed many opportunities to engage and support users. From this oversight have sprung opportunities to better understand and respond to…

Librarians play a key role in the understanding, retrieval, and assessment of gray literature (also spelled "grey literature") as it pertains to evidence-based clinical practice, particularly nursing. With the rise of evidence-based research and curriculum-specific requirements in advanced nursing programs, gray literature instruction…

With an awareness of growing issues in teaching source evaluation, the authors explored new methods to incorporate this skill into one-credit asynchronous information literacy courses. The authors discovered improvements in student performance when using SIFT and identified key strategies for its implementation to achieve best results.

This paper sets out to identify the ways in which academic libraries can further interdisciplinary scholarship on campus. The medical humanities is presented as an example to interrogate the current practices in academic libraries and to inform future efforts in support of interdisciplinarity. Text mining was employed to illuminate trends in this…

This essay explores the tension between pursuing meaningful work in instruction librarianship and the realities of working in a society in which many jobs provide little fulfillment or pleasure, or, as the journalist Sarah Jaffe puts it, "Work won't love you back." Drawing on a recent conference keynote by Anne Helen Petersen, C. Wright…

Service-learning is an important practice in higher education, allowing institutions to combine essential campus functions of research and learning with meaningful engagement in the community. As service-learning has made its way into institutional strategic plans, libraries have sought to support this work by integrating community engagement into…

Liaison (or subject specialist) librarians are routinely identified as essential to the sustained success of academic libraries. Yet despite the purported centrality of liaisons to the mission of their institutions, many libraries have struggled to define the role of the subject specialist. These attempts at definition have resulted in a…

This article summarizes and explores personal librarian philosophies. Much like widely known teaching philosophies, librarian philosophies are statements that reflect an individual's standards and beliefs about their vocation. These statements can be used to incorporate meaning, identity, and direction into professional practice. As a form of…

Library employees face countless changes, big and small, in their workplaces every day: not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also such commonplace events as open positions, renovations, budget cuts, and new library systems. No single handbook can anticipate all the changing needs. This case study discusses how one particular library responded, in a…

This paper considers library programming as a means of extending and enhancing the academic library's pedagogical mission and role in student success. Scholarly programming in the form of faculty speakers, film screenings, or other kinds of research-based events creates opportunities for students to join an academic community and to practice…