Libraries and the Contested Terrain of “Neutrality”
Are libraries “neutral”? That question is way too simplistic to serve as anything other than a political football.
More on Checking out Library Books
More about books about libraries and librarians, with a compilation of suggested readings.
The Impacts of COVID-19 on Academic Library Budgets: Fall 2020
The pandemic has wrought profound disruption on the academic sector. Today, we share findings from a major research project about the budget situation in US academic libraries.
Guest Post — Research Support is an Enterprise Activity
Rebecca Bryant (OCLC) explains why cross-campus social interoperability is needed to adequately support today’s researchers.
What Do Libraries Keep When They Cancel the Big Deal?
How do libraries decide which titles to keep when they cancel the Big Deal? What do the results look like? A look at seven libraries that walked away by @lisalibrarian.
Taking a Big Bite Out of the Big Deal
Unsub is the game-changing data analysis service that is helping librarians forecast, explore, and optimize their alternatives to the Big Deal. Librarians breaking away from the Big Deal often credit Unsub as a critical component of their strategy.
The Internet Archive Chooses Readers
How will we meet this moment of global crisis? The Internet Archive breaks glass.
Academic Library Response to COVID-19: Real-Time Data Gathering and Dissemination
The story behind the survey for and from the academic library community as it responds to COVID-19 by @lisalibrarian + @cwolffeisenberg.
Privacy in User Research: Can You?
Can you prioritize privacy in user research? Simply put – yes.
Good Data, Bad Data, You Know I’ve Had My Share: Library Book Acquisition Patterns
We have had assumptions about the academic book market that probably are just not true.
Consolidation in Academic Publishing Has a New Target
Research publishers may acquire textbook publishers in order to increase market share in libraries with inclusive access programs
Discovery Should Be Delivery: User-Centric Principles for Discovery as a Service
Library discovery can only succeed in reaching a high market share if it is intensely user-centered. Articulating user-centric principles for discovery has enabled the University Library to Illinois to evolve a discovery environment that meets the needs of its community of users.
Retirement Wave To Hit Academic Librarianship
Like other greying professions, demographic data for ARL libraries warn us of a breaking wave of retirements but may paint an unrealistic picture of what the beach will look like after the surf has settled.
Academic Libraries and the Textbook Taboo: Time to Get Over It?
Has the time come for academic libraries to start thinking seriously about providing textbooks to their student patrons? A few are already doing so–why not more?
Building a Repository in Partnership with Elsevier: The University of Florida’s Perspective
The University of Florida and Elsevier have entered into a partnership to build links between the institutional repository and ScienceDirect, which has received quite a bit of criticism in recent weeks.I have found it useful to try to understand the different sides of what seems to me to be a debate about how best to utilize the increasingly mature infrastructure and programmatic capacity for scholarly communications.