Makerspaces continue to grow in popularity in library ecosystems, yet no one has done a census on important data points, such as total active makerspaces, planned makerspaces, and types of makerspaces in public colleges and universities in the United States. The objective of this report is to gather baseline data on makerspaces, the majority of…

The academic library plays multiple roles in the university, making even a nuanced analysis of service numbers inadequate for assessing the complexity of the library's value and contributions to the university's mission and success. This exploratory study uses social network analysis and a unique interlibrary loan (ILL) data set to examine…

This study examines cooperative collection development (CCD) for area studies and foreign language collections at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries, based on a 2020 survey. Respondents provided details about cooperative collection initiatives (CCIs) at their libraries and their attitudes toward CCD. Most respondents had a favorable…

As open educational resources (OER) becomes a more established concept, its growth and continued success not only center around the creation of new content but also depend upon the development and evolution of existing content, licenses permitting. The evolution of and persistent access to existing content requires easily editable works and the…

As academic libraries focus on delivering new services in such areas as research data, digital preservation, and data curation, they have begun to explore alternative funding models and approaches to research. The Arizona State University (ASU) Library in Tempe works with the university's Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development to collaborate…

This case study describes the development of CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), an open educational resource (OER). CORA, available at www.projectcora.org, was developed through a Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) grant. The grant proposed to use a "recipe" metaphor to envision shared information…

Financial pressures, changes in scholarly communications, the rise of online content, and the ability to easily share materials have provided libraries the opportunity to rethink their collections practices. This article provides an overview of these changes and outlines a framework for viewing collections as a service. It describes how libraries…

This paper presents a case study of the replacement of a textbook with free to use materials in a class on Human Factors and Ergonomics. Data on exam grades, course grades, and student opinions over a total of five semesters are reported, before and after the implementation. The results show that class performance remained similar before and…

Many observers find it baffling that faculty in higher education have been slow to adopt open educational resources (OER). The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a private foundation that makes grants to expand access to learning materials, defines OER as: Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been…

The King Library in San José, California, is a unique combination of academic and public library. It serves the diverse populations of the City of San José and San José State University (SJSU). This article provides analysis of data collected in a study on the concept of "library as place" and SJSU students' sense of belonging toward the…

This article takes a broad view of the evolution of collecting behaviors in a network environment and suggests some future directions based on various simple models. The authors look at the changing dynamics of print collections, at the greater engagement with research and learning behaviors, and at trends in scholarly communication. The goal is…

This article discusses a project undertaken to assess the journals in a Big Deal package by applying a weighted value algorithm measuring quality, utility, and value of individual titles. Carried out by a national library consortium in Canada, the project confirmed the value of the Big Deal package while providing a quantitative approach for…

To assess their knowledge, use, and attitudes regarding peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, this study surveyed academic librarians (n = 162) via a mail-in survey. Correlations between the sample characteristics (age, gender, year of MLS, type of library job) and P2P knowledge, use, and attitudes were also explored. Overall, academic librarians…

Scholars publish in journals to preserve their work and to make sure that it is available for current and future researchers. More and more of this publishing is done in electronic format. Libraries, the institutions that have traditionally overseen the preservation of print publications, are now struggling with the preservation of digital…