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Reference transaction statistics give insight into the needs of library users and help libraries prove their value within their institution. Collecting this data has long been an important aspect of librarianship. Historically, most libraries use paper tally sheets where librarians indicated each question asked with a mark. While paper systems are easy to implement, they provide little information about the nature of questions asked by library users. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Edith Garland Dupré Library replaced their traditional paper recording method with web-based statistics tracker Gimlet in 2016. Gimlet data reports for reference transactions occurring at the library's reference desk and those via instant message from June 2015 to June 2018 are presented and analyzed. In addition, a newly developed coding scheme was applied to transactions to ensure the accuracy of information. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this change, innovations in reporting reference transactions in the Reference and Research Services department, and topics for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents research about student services offered by academic libraries. The student services are in response to the growing number of nontraditional students identified as student-parents across the United States, England and Wales. Familyfriendly spaces are examined, as there are several academic libraries now offering these spaces for student-parents with small children. A meta-analysis was used combining information found in journals about higher education, sociology, library science and family learning. This paper will review literature on the topic of student-parents and provide recommended practices on issues of service to young children, family parking, lactating/changing rooms, 24/hour chat and online resources access, after-school programing and funding to make these services happen. Resources also include tips on creating spaces for an age group such as small children that academic libraries are generally not familiar with serving. Tips on how to find grants, find good partners to collaborate with to apply for grants, how to get more informed and active on campus, and promoting new services in the library are also covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries across the United States provide student engagement events for a diverse set of reasons. Like many academic libraries, the University Library of Columbus (ULC) strives to provide student engagement opportunities to increase the library's visibility and student involvement on campus. In the Fall 2017 semester, a TED Talks series was developed and implemented. The chosen format for the series was to present a TED talk each Tuesday, followed by a brief discussion and a short survey of attendees. This paper shares an overview of the series implementation, promotion, evaluation, and progression during the 2017-2018 academic year, including attendees' feedback and author's recommendations. It suggests that a weekly series such as TED Talks provide a unique venue for academic libraries to engage their academic community on an ongoing basis and build relationships with new and existing patrons. The series can enhance existing library programming or serve as a standalone engagement and outreach initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the state government's multi-pronged effort to preserve and develop the French language in Louisiana, libraries and library services are notable by their absence. The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) operates no programs based in or on libraries, lists no libraries among its consortial partners, and doesn't even provide a clear option for nominating libraries as "French Friendly" locations. This paper offers proposals for expanding the role of Louisiana's academic libraries in French revitalization efforts, highlighting ways in which they can fill longstanding gaps in CODOFIL's school-centered programs. This will facilitate a broader spectrum of language use across the lifespan of French learners, a greater engagement with minority communities in the opportunities afforded by French, and a deeper appreciation for the French language "as found in Louisiana". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world where libraries are searching for ways to justify their very existence, this article provides an argument toward one such justification. The author asserts that, by providing leisure materials to students, the academic library can help to improve rates of student success, thereby bolstering retention. Leisure reading has been shown to reduce stress, which is one of the many causes linked to students dropping out of school. It is also more likely that students will read this type of material if they are within close proximity of a leisure reading collection. Library use is linked with student success and it is possible that leisure reading could draw students to the library and make them feel more comfortable using it. Reading itself is also linked with academic success. This paper examines the cyclical relationship between leisure reading and student retention and argues that such reading materials should be part of a collection that provides holistic support to students and not merely curricular support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the continuing evolution of the authentic assessment process for information literacy instruction at the John Spoor Broome Library at California State University, Channel Islands (CI), with particular focus on the library's 2013 assessment project. The goal of these continually evolving processes is to assess the library's value in ways that allow librarians to easily translate assessment findings to the campus community and to have actionable results that improve the library's service to students. Librarians at CI continue to adjust and improve their authentic assessment process with the following goals in mind: to utilize information gleaned from assessment efforts to create opportunities that positively impact and support learning through targeted, assignment-specific library instruction; to clearly define the role of the library and librarians in the student learning process; to translate and articulate assessment findings in meaningful ways to the campus community; and to have actionable results that improve the library's service to students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space is at a premium on many college and university campuses. Libraries are often asked to vacate space for the expansion or construction of offices, labs, or learning commons. When this results in the loss of shelving space, libraries face the dilemma of what to do with those displaced materials. This paper examines the loss of approximately 7,000 linear feet of shelving space in an academic law library and the successful in-library relocation project necessitated by that loss. Planning is key to any project, especially one involving approximately 80,000 volumes. The author discusses the planning that went into the project and the outcome. Planning included measuring the size of the collections, mapping the relocation of materials, and identifying challenges. Readers will learn about a simple yet fairly accurate method for measuring library collections. The reasoning behind mapping the relocation of materials to specific areas is discussed. Challenges, such as allocating growth space, safety concerns, and lack of elevator access, are also covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As special collections librarians have become increasingly focused on instruction and active learning there has been a move toward more elaborately designed assignments spread over multiple visits to the special collections library. While such activities are undoubtedly rewarding as library experiences, they may not meet the needs of the professors teaching the classes, for whom teaching time is often at a premium. The one-shot session allows the professor more flexibility within the semester, and this calls for librarians to think about how active learning techniques can be implemented in a single session. This article offers some practical solutions to how the librarian can plan one-time visits to the special collections library that center student learning, while still making the most of the semester's instruction time. Ultimately, librarians would do well to make a virtue out of the necessity of such single-visit instruction sessions, as their flexibility for professors means that they will be a central part of special collections' instruction for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study explores the creation of a research workshop series for undergraduate students at a residential Honors College on Louisiana State University's campus. Maneuvering past the one-shot model, this four-part workshop series was scaffolded through the semester in conjunction with students' assignment and research timelines. Staggering the workshops in this way allowed for a more intentionally paced introduction to the research process so as to not overwhelm students. Not only were these workshops opportunities to teach facets of information literacy and help students through the research process, but they were also guided by the principles of care and empathy. These workshops were created as a space outside of class where students and librarians could honestly share their perspectives, feelings, and experiences with research. By utilizing an empathetic approach to instruction, we can form connections that help mitigate negative feelings, anxieties, and assumptions students may have about the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic put a major strain on everyday life. Academic institutions were forced to close, leaving many employees to resort to teleworking. Academic libraries were put in an unusual position, as they strove to provide access to library materials and services, despite limited to no access to the actual sites. This proved to be especially tricky for technical services and special collections departments, which heavily rely on being present at libraries. Therefore, these departments needed to develop solutions that would allow them to continue performing their duties while adhering to stay-at-home orders. With careful preparation and frequent communication, the technical services and special collections departments of Edith Garland Dupré Library at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette were able to successfully adapt to teleworking and continue providing needed library services. This article details the teleworking experiences of five departments within technical services and special collections during the pandemic, including strategies developed and challenges faced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study of a successful undergraduate information literacy oneshot instruction session conducted wholly online and synchronously through a web-conferencing platform built into the university's learning management system. This modality was necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was agreed upon through discussion between the librarian and the instructors of record. The article provides a pedagogical framework grounded in constructivism and active learning for the approach to the information literacy session, including justifications for the deviation from the lesson plan as created when the class was taught face to face. It discusses best practices indicated by the experience, as well as limitations and changes the librarian would have made after a critical analysis of the session. Among the considerations discussed are issues of engagement, access, accessibility, and student support, and suggestions are made as to how academic libraries can learn from this experience to bring more information literacy instruction to online learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The library is an academic department at York College of the City University of New York and offers one-shot classes in information literacy at the for all other academic departments at the college. Since these library classes are taught by library faculty rather than by the subject professors, it is quite possible that they would not be aware of, and therefore not accommodate, the disabled students who attend these specific information literacy classes. This article recommends best practices for teaching librarians who may need to make accommodations for the disabled while teaching these library classes, currently used at York's library. The policy background that caused the library to do this is not only based in law but, as discussed here, it is also based in professional library policies put forward by the American Library Association. This article also reviews the history of services for the disabled in libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enrollment in online nursing programs has increased significantly in the last several years, due in part to the Institute of Medicine's 2010 Future of Nursing report, which called for higher levels of training and education for nurses. Returning nursing students often face multiple challenges, including lack of confidence in the research and technology skills necessary to succeed in evidence-based practice fields such as nursing. Because libraries are a primary resource for research and evidence-based practice, librarian liaisons have an important role to play in ensuring nursing students can skillfully access and evaluate the information they need to succeed in both their education and profession. Emergent themes in this bibliography include embedded librarianship, nurse educator/librarian collaboration, adaptability and flexibility with new and emerging technologies, and collaboration with instructional designers. The primary audience for the bibliography is nursing and health science liaison librarians, but distance learning, outreach, reference, and instruction librarians may also find it useful and applicable to their specializations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xavier University of Louisiana Library Resource Center was built in 1993. After Hurricane Katrina filled the library with 18 inches of water in 2005, its first floor was re-carpeted, its bookshelves refurbished and the reference room was returned to its original state. In 2013, the Xavier Library began acquiring electronic resources to replace the majority of its print reference and print journal collections. As more virtual resources were purchased, less shelving space was needed, inspiring Xavier librarians to seize this opportunity to create a more inviting library that students could use for research, gathering, and studying. This article describes how discarding items formally collected in print and currently collected electronically, gave new life to the research spaces at the Xavier University Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities, and especially their libraries, have faced severe budget cuts in recent years, forcing academic libraries to demonstrate value to their institutions. Numerous observational studies have established a correlation between library utilization and value metrics. The next step is an interventional study, which attempts to control extraneous factors. This type of research can be difficult to design. This article proposes one method. Through an interventional study among undergraduate freshman, libraries can provide supplemental library instruction in order to determine if student exposure to available resources increases student GPA and retention. These outcomes are used as measures of user and financial value based on current research trends. The methodology involves dividing university seminar course sections into two groups: one which receives additional library instruction and one which does not. The course sections will be evenly divided along major and college. After instruction is administered, students' academic records will be collected to assess GPA and collegiate retention. Statistics will only be processed as aggregates in order to protect individuals. The planned parsimony of this model allows researchers to draw the clearest linkage between exposure to library resources and academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides practical suggestions for creating opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education partnerships and programming, despite the funding struggles of many academic libraries. With pressures from internal and external funding avenues, academic libraries must create an environment where libraries and librarians reach out in order to encourage buy in for library programs, services, and support. Using the book budget cuts and serial subscription reconfiguration at the University Libraries of the University of Memphis as a jumping off point, this article explores creative but necessary strategies for connecting with students, faculty, librarians and others engaged in STEM education. The creation of the Center for Research and Innovation for STEM Teaching and Learning (CRISTAL) at the University of Memphis presented a critical opportunity for engagement with the libraries. Points of discussion include how the University Libraries became involved with CRISTAL, the ways the CRISTAL has driven its engagement with our University Libraries, resources implemented to broaden the impact of this relationship, literature supporting the methods used, opportunities related to such collaborations, and plans moving forward. This article also includes suggestions for how such opportunities might present, and might be embraced, at other institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]