OCLC Research is one of the world's leading centers devoted exclusively to the challenges facing libraries and archives in a rapidly changing information technology environment. The mission of OCLC is to expand knowledge that advances OCLC's public purposes of advancing libraries and librarianship. The goal is to help libraries plan with…

What began with a few libraries' early application of ethnographic methods to learn more about user behaviors and needs has grown to become a significant body of work done across many institutions using a broad range of methods. User-centered investigations are increasingly influential in discussions about the shape and future of the research…

The escalation of discourse on racial injustice prompts novel ideas to address the persistent lack of racial equity in LIS research. The underrepresentation of BIPOC perspectives contributes to the inequity. Applying the Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach meaningfully engages BIPOC to help guide LIS investigations that identify…

While contemporary revisionist narratives frame the public library as a benevolent and neutral community resource, it has existed for over two centuries and has a deeply shaded past. Particularly, public libraries played key roles in projects tied to the industrialist mission of states and the education of select social groups during key…

The mission of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Research is to expand knowledge that advances OCLC's public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing library costs. OCLC Research is dedicated to three roles: (1)To act as a community resource for shared research and development (R&D); (2) To provide advanced…

With the advent of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education in 2015, librarians everywhere have tried to adapt their existing information literacy sessions to incorporate the revised concepts. This article discusses how the librarian responsible for a series of four labs in a first-year course reformed the lab content…

Reference transactions in academic libraries have been on the decline since mid-1990. The Academic Library Survey from the National Center for Education Statistics shows an average drop of 25% in reference use from 1996-2004 with higher numbers at some institutions such as the University of Maryland which plummeted 47% (Martell, 2008). The…

In this column, the author discusses how the management of e-books has introduced, at many libraries and in varying degrees, the challenges of maintaining effective technical services workflows. Four different e-book workflows are identified and explored, and the author takes a closer look at how particular variables for each are affected, such as…

This introductory essay to this special issue demonstrates that action research has a vital role in evidence-informed practice in academic libraries. This special issue of "College and Research Libraries" ("C&RL") proudly features a selection of action research studies by participants of the Association of College and…

The "Best of the Literature" column is intended to keep librarians, administrators, and staff up to date with the most recent, relevant, and useful literature of the field. In the last few years, students of color across the nation have spoken out about their experiences of racism and racial microaggressions on their campuses. They have…

"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This special issue presents a report released by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Joint Task…

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has a long history of data collection, environmental scanning, and trends analysis. Its most recent work, "Futures Thinking for Academic Librarians," uses a 15-year horizon to look beyond the worries of the current economic cycle and the short-term future in order to anticipate the changing…

Mary Virginia Gaver conducted the first correlational research in the field of school libraries. Many in the field trace the beginning of the search for proof that effective school libraries impact student learning to her study published just over fifty years ago. While conducting her study she developed measures of the effectiveness of school…

This Article discusses the features and the use of Metrics such as Bibliometrics, Scientometrics, Webometrics, Informetrics and Altmetrics in the field of Library and Information Science Research at present.

Since 2008, Victoria University (VU) Library has employed 20 or more Student Assistants annually who work on a casual basis for up to 12 hours per week during terms/semesters to staff the Library in Study Hall mode (where there is self-service access to PCs and collections and limited staff assistance). This initiative appears to have been highly…