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In 2003, a unique joint library was created. A partnership between the San Jose Public Library system and San Jose State University, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library serves a city population of more than a million and a campus population of over 30,000 students. With different patrons and different missions, bringing the two library cultures and functions together presented many challenges, but the library today is a vital, innovative space for learning. In the ten years since its opening, however, the cost savings envisioned when the library was created have not been realized. Also, the partnership originally presented in the library's organizational structure has undergone alterations. This restructuring was driven by changes in funding, staffing, and patron needs. Despite this organizational evolution, the King Library still provides a richer resource to its communities than either partner could have provided alone and can serve as a model to other communities considering the creation of a joint library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In both virtual and in-person reference transactions, creating a supportive environment for patrons is the crucial first step. Evaluating librarians success in creating a supportive environment, however, is challenging. Language style matching (LSM) is a text analysis technique that measures the level of engagement between people. A high level of LSM has been shown to contribute to a sense of perceived support and other positive social outcomes. In this exploratory study, LSM is used to evaluate >1200 email threads from two virtual reference services to determine the level of engagement between patrons and librarians. Results show that email reference provided through the LibAnswers general reference service demonstrated a moderate to high level of LSM 67% of the time and email reference provided by a liaison librarian demonstrated a moderate to high level of LSM 84% of the time. By measuring how well librarians are meeting patrons' affective needs, LSM has the potential to provide a more holistic assessment of virtual reference services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there have been studies on faculty use of streaming video resources in academic libraries, none have focused on the specific needs of ethnic studies faculty. Using a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 13 ethnic studies faculty from two public university campuses, this study found that faculty engagement with video is based upon a pedagogical strategy that responds to the specific demands and goals of ethnic studies curricula, while centering on student needs by using free resources whenever possible. Within this paradigm, faculty choose from three categories of content: key primary and secondary sources; flexible supporting sources; and current topics of interest. Understanding what motivates ethnic study faculty could be helpful as librarians work with vendors and advocate for the content that best meets instructional needs. Librarians can also help improve faculty's instructional outcomes by communicating about licensing options and streaming media availability through the library. • The use of streaming video by ethnic studies faculty is informed by the unique demands of the ethnic studies curricula. • Understanding faculty motivations in choosing videos can help librarians make informed database subscription decisions. • Findings are based on the thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews of ethnic studies faculty on their video use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]