This exploratory and qualitative study examined the appraisal practices of archivists in university special collections, including how archivists define appraisal, decide what to keep and discard, apply a collection policy in their decision process, and contend with problematic aspects of the practice. The first part of this study examined the…

Beginning with a discussion of how collections diversity has been conceptualized and assessed within the literature, we then analyze four areas in which professional practices and modes of thinking create barriers to collecting materials from historically marginalized voices. Specifically, we discuss how metadata practices can obscure these…

This paper examines the impact of process mapping on the management of change in an academic library in a UK higher education institution. Book ordering has been highlighted by a group of subject librarians as being time-consuming and inefficient, detracting from their ability to respond to new challenges and opportunities. An action research…

For more than 30 years, Peter Senge's theory of learning organizations has influenced the study of leadership and organizations. Researchers have studied various components of his framework: team cognition and mental models, team learning, shared vision, systems thinking, and personal mastery. But few articles have explored what it looks like in…

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…

With a renewed emphasis on facilitating learning, supporting multiple literacies, and advancing equity and inclusion, the thoroughly updated and revised second edition of this trusted text provides models and tools that will enable library staff who serve youth to create and maintain collections that provide equitable access to all youth. And as…

Libraries still stand as a source of knowledge that can guide us to make informed decisions through the use of credible sources. A balanced collection that provides access to all points of view empowers a community to use information responsibly and make decisions independently. Intellectual freedom and equity of access are still important issues…

During the last few years, many academic libraries have accepted the challenge of helping their users locate and acquire the numeric data they need. To meet their users' ever-increasing need for data, librarians are purchasing data sets one at a time ("small data"). This service, though important to our users, raises many issues in the…

Seventeen scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the twentieth annual Brick & Click Libraries Conference, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The twentieth Brick & Click Libraries Conference was held virtually. The proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at…

What do school librarians fear most? Hands down, their biggest fear is a formal challenge to a resource in the school library. There are no accurate statistics about the number of challenges to school library resources. The staff of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom estimates that only about 20 percent are reported to ALA annually. For the…

This article presents a digest of LISTSERVS of interest to access services for the period of April to June 2011. It presents questions and answers from Interlibrary Loan (ILL) people, CIRCPLUS, and OFFCAMP.

This article offers 12 steps to jumpstart a new school librarian's career. Being the information specialist will be both challenging and rewarding as one undertakes a myriad of activities. These 12 steps will help a new school librarian's first year successful.

Approval plans are used by many libraries as an adjunct to title-by-title selection, and sometimes as a substitute for it. The author examines this approach to purchasing library materials, considering positive and negative effects approval plans may have on collection balance as well as on acquisitions budgets and workflow. The article also…

Formulas from the "Standards for College Libraries" were used to compare the recommended collection size and number of professional librarians with the actual size of the collections and number of librarians for a random sample of Baccalaureate I and II colleges. Results revealed that significant numbers are not meeting the "Standards" in these…

Describes efforts to conserve library materials in Cambodia being undertaken by a Cornell University library program. Topics discussed include the absence of educated librarians; environmental problems, including insects; an absence of preservation facilities and supplies; a lack of policies for the National Library; and physical and bibliographic…