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Published as part of the University of Massachusetts Press series on Studies in Print Culture and History of the Book, Placing Papers: The American Literary Archives Market is a well-written and fascinating history of how various stakeholders—and their differing motivations—shaped the literary archives trade in the United States of America. Amy Hildreth Chen, who holds a PhD in English from Emory University, previously was an academic librarian at the University of Iowa and now is an independent scholar. She traces the largely overlooked history of the trade in literary papers from its post-World War II origins through to the mid-2010s. The book comprises an introduction, conclusion, and six chapters. After a brief first chapter on the various values implicated in archives (financial, scholarly, and public), Placing Papers examines the literary archives market from the perspective of several key stakeholder groups: authors and their families (chapter 2), agents and dealers (chapter 3), directors and curators (chapter 4), archivists and digital archivists (chapter 5), and, finally, scholars and members of the public (chapter 6).

During the last 30 years, information technology has exploded; with that comes a host of issues that constantly need to be addressed, including how to treat the various and numerous records that have been created as a result of said information explosion. Records and information management (RIM) professionals need to adapt and adjust to the responsibilities that these changes entail. Mooradian’s book, Ethics for Records and Information Management , is essentially a manual to help RIM professionals, including librarians and archivists, develop and implement ethical organizational policies by using a principles-based approach to ethics to help the reader through the process. The author points out that RIM professionals have specific ethical responsibilities and that they will need to be equipped to establish policies, training, and systems “that are meant to manage information in a way that is fair and legitimate” (xxv–xxvi). Mooradian addresses topics that everyone working in information professions should be aware of, such as the structure of ethics, including outlining principles, moral rules, judgments, and exceptions; ethical reasoning; the ethical core of records and information management; important ethical concerns such as copyright and intellectual property, whistleblowing, information leaks, disclosure, and privacy; and the relationship between RIM ethics and information governance.

Outreach and engagement is a key topic in academic libraries that is receiving an increased focus within the profession. While it may be difficult to decide which materials one should turn to first when delving into this subject, Successful Campus Outreach for Academic Libraries is an excellent collection of essays on the current scholarship and practice of academic library outreach. The ideas presented in its pages are not only inspiring; they can be easily adapted to fit a variety of academic settings. Nearly all chapters of this book detail collaborative outreach initiatives featuring partnerships with entities both on and off campus. There is a variety of topics covered, including planning and programming, as well as less obvious topics such as technology. Nearly all chapters incorporate essential details of implementation and assessment of the described programs. The practical information shared in each chapter will appeal to anyone charged with outreach efforts.

The academic librarian’s evolving teaching identity is the subject of exploration in Transforming Academic Library Instruction: Shifting Teaching Practices to Reflect Changed Perspectives . As a librarian and instructional design expert who also recently served as chair of ACRL’s Information Literacy Frameworks and Standards Committee, Dr. Nichols Hess has a uniquely broad view of the ways in which our expectations of academic librarian instruction are changing as long-held standards are rejected in favor of frameworks and the rigors of traditional standards and practices are exchanged in favor of more fluid information literacy–based learning objectives.

The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation presents an overview of the issues inherent to undertaking digital preservation, with an eye to getting the reader to understand the theoretical building blocks of the topic so they can develop preservation plans that will meet the unique needs of their collections. The book is written by Trevor Owens, the head of digital content management for library services at the Library of Congress. Owens has been actively involved in digital preservation planning, playing a part in developing the National Digital Stewardship Alliance Levels of Digital Preservation.

One challenge of discussing outreach is that it takes a different shape in every library, a reality that The Library Outreach Casebook represents through a spectrum of experiences, ideas, and approaches. Editors Ryan L. Sittler and Terra J. Rogerson have compiled 20 different case studies in outreach and marketing for libraries. They note in the introduction that the book is intended to serve as a companion to the forthcoming title The Library Outreach Cookbook by providing readers with a taste of the scope of outreach and marketing efforts going on at other libraries. Unfortunately, Sittler and Rogerson’s introduction misrepresents the true value of the volume they have assembled. Although they promise to “describe and address universal problems that all librarians face” and suggest taking an “all of the above” approach to the advice contained therein (vii), casebooks are inherently limited. The situations described are unique, and the solutions and innovations employed are likewise constricted in their applicability. Librarians will not walk away from this volume with clear-cut solutions or formulas to deploy. The programming, marketing, and project management systems described should not all be attempted by any one library. Even knowing this, it is easy to see how Rogerson and Sittler have created something of great value in this collection: a book where librarians can witness the critical thinking and problem solving of other libraries. The value of this work lies in its capacity to inspire similar ingenuity in its readers, who—facing an entirely different set of challenges at their own institution—are better prepared to brainstorm solutions and be more familiar with the tools available because they have heard the stories of others.

Approaches to student learning and information literacy continue to evolve. Threshold concepts in information literacy (IL) are a relatively new way of critically considering the learning that students do. The editors note in their introduction that “threshold concepts are currently defined by the following characteristics: transformative, integrative, irreversible, bounded, and troublesome” and include a discussion of what each defining characteristic means. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education , introduced in 2015, is based in part on the idea of threshold concepts, and each frame was developed with threshold concepts in mind. The discussion of what constitutes an information literacy threshold concept has been an important part of a larger conversation of how to approach the use of the ACRL Framework . This book strives to address some of the questions surrounding information literacy threshold concepts within specific disciplines with the ultimate goal of improving student-learning experiences in impactful ways.

In Libraries & Gardens: Growing Together , Carrie Scott Banks and Cindy Mediavilla bring librarianship into conversation with gardening. While the histories of gardens and libraries are intertwined, there has not been much written about library gardens. Banks and Mediavilla’s book encourages us to look at how library gardens “extend and enhance the library’s role as an information center and community space” (x). Writing from public library backgrounds, Banks and Mediavilla focus on how library gardens can contribute to the inclusiveness and accessibility of libraries. The book gives a tour of various kinds of library gardens, including many academic and research library gardens. In discussing library gardens, Libraries & Gardens: Growing Together contributes to a broader conversation about libraries as multisensory, experiential places.

One of the core learning outcomes that information literacy (IL) instructors aim to help their students achieve is to interrogate the credibility of information. Part of that process is to recognize the credibility of authors who have acquired valid information through experience and education; another part is to question hegemonic pressures in effect in the information dissemination ecosystem. Toward a Critical-Inclusive Assessment Practice for Library Instruction seeks to outline assessment methods for helping students learn both of these lessons. Information-literate individuals recognize gaps in their knowledge. Students come to educational institutions with gaps in their knowledge, which library instructors must help them to recognize and fill. However, students also have knowledge of themselves as learners that library instructors do not possess. This book outlines assessment processes for library instructors to fill the gaps in their knowledge of their students.

The Information Literacy Framework: Case Studies of Successful Implementation provides librarians with examples of how others have implemented and used ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy in a variety of settings. The book is split into three sections: Preparing to Use the Framework , Case Studies of Instruction Using the Framework , and Educating for the Framework . Given the amount of uncertainty that librarians have expressed since ACRL introduced the Framework , this text should be useful to many. While the learning environments will differ, librarians should be inspired by the case studies to adapt the ideas to their own environments. Case studies come from a range of institutions including a private boarding (high) school, large state universities, community colleges, and large and small private universities. While the editors are current faculty at schools of Information or Information Science, practitioners author most of the chapters, with several Information Science faculty contributing to the section on educating for the Framework .

In his book, Masked by Trust: Bias in Library Discovery, Reidsma addresses the increasing use and misplaced trust in search engines, and how library software developers have integrated Google-like elements into discovery systems. Since libraries license these systems, users believe that they are more reliable than web, or general purpose, search engines. However, the author asserts that, since library discovery systems are created by people with biases, they are not as neutral as vendors and libraries claim. Reidsma references several important researchers throughout the text, such as Safiya Umoja Noble, Cathy O’Neil, Carole Cadwalladr, and others, who have published works regarding algorithmic bias. These, in addition to his own research into algorithms in library systems, help support the author’s assertion that library systems are not immune from bias, thereby making the case that even library systems are not neutral.

Libraries, Archives, and Museums Today: Insights from the Field aims to help students and working professionals in libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) examine and solve the challenges faced in related professional disciplines through the shared experiences of institutional case studies. The book was written with a variety of readers in mind including archivists, librarians, museum professionals, graduate students, and staff employed in cultural heritage contexts. The authors have expertise in digital assets management, archives appraisal, and cultural heritage preservation management. They have also collaborated on a wide assortment of projects over the years with many of the institutions represented in this volume.