One of the most enduring and controversial metaphors to describe the academic library is this: "The academic library is the heart of the university." For 150 years, librarians have both embraced and rejected this metaphor in equal measure. For some, the metaphor is old, dusty, and ignorant of contemporary library practices; for others,…

Across the sector, universities are transforming the student experience by reconceptualising the ways in which they partner with students. The academic library is at the heart of the university experience and libraries have a long history of collaboration and engaging with their communities. As such academic libraries are the perfect next frontier…

How information literate are the Google generation, and what information literacy skills do they bring to university? For university libraries, understanding student prior knowledge provides a foundation on which to introduce appropriate learning activities during the first year. In 2009, in response to a new pedagogical model in health sciences,…

This article reports on a study we conducted with first-year students in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne in 2003. Building upon our 2002 research ("Library Review," 2003, vol 52, no 5 pp209-217), we investigated the prior library instruction, information preferences and skills of students enrolled in first-year…