The concept of embedded librarians is a way for academic librarians to be intentionally and strategically inserted in the learning and teaching process through a variety of initiatives. In a mid-size university, in order to better address the research and curricular needs of students and faculty members, librarians became more intentional about…

Graduate students lament the need to achieve the proficiency necessary to competently search multiple databases for their research assignments, regularly eschewing these sources in favor of Google Scholar or some other search engine. The author conducted an anonymous survey investigating graduate student knowledge or awareness of the open-access…

In the spring of 2015, 14 faculty members in social science or in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) spoke with a working group from the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries regarding their research needs and challenges. Their responses highlighted a dynamic research environment in which individual researchers desire to…

Often associated with online learning, instructional design is a process utilized in efficiently designing training and instruction to help ensure effectiveness. Typically, the instructional systems design (ISD) process uses a team-based approach, consisting of an instructor, a facilitator, a designer and a subject matter expert. Although library…

This article describes how and why the Library 101 Project was created and the lessons that the developers learned out of this project. The Library 101 is a project that challenges librarians to revise the paradigm of "basic" library services in order to remain relevant in this technology-driven world. It was developed by Michael Porter,…

When the electronic resource management system (ERM) at Kansas State University Libraries suffered a horrible data loss, the "contract db" presented a challenge for the librarians responsible for electronic resources. It was a decent data repository, but it had no ability to manage the tangled process of licensing, acquiring, activating,…

Dennis Wilson is a patient and persistent man. After three years of observation, data gathering, extensive discussion, and presentations, he reorganized his collection development team into seven members. Before, the work was distributed among 75 people. Wilson's motivation? The need to get products to patrons "as soon as possible." The…

Kimberly Martin is just 30, but she's been reinventing the Bonner Springs City Library since late 1998, even before she earned her library degree. Some 20 minutes west of Kansas City, Bonner Springs is a small town (service population around 10,000) in a bustling metropolitan area. Martin's goal is to provide service on a par with the larger…

This study of twenty-two Kansas state institutions was conducted to appraise the reading habits and educational level of institutional residents, the library resources and service needs of institutional residents and staff, and the possibilities for library service at institutions with security requirements. Conclusions are based on visits to…