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Library staff developed a project to reclassify the Curriculum Materials Collection of a specialty library on the campus of a regional comprehensive university. Materials were reclassified from a custom classification system derived from those developed by Lois Belfield Watt in 1962 and Harlan Johnson in 1973, to the Dewey Decimal Classification. While the original system had the advantage of browsability for patrons who were familiar with it, its unusual nature made training patrons and staff challenging. The transition to Dewey is expected to ease training and use, enhance resource sharing, and allow student teachers to transfer their library skills to the schools they will be teaching in.

Military Families and the Arts is an ArcGIS StoryMaps collection that serves military families by mapping art museums and arts centers located near active-duty military installations. The interactive maps are organized by military branch and browsable by an alphabetical list of active-duty military installations. The ArcGIS StoryMaps collection serves three primary functions: to assist military spouses pursuing a career in the arts with finding a comprehensive list of potential employers, to assist military dependents with finding arts-related opportunities to network into their current or new communities, and to assist military families with finding art-related activities near their military installation in the continental United States.

Background: The recruitment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) has been an ongoing effort for specialized libraries and library programs, especially as they try to fill technical roles while combatting internalized biases and candidates' potential self-deselection by not applying or otherwise removing themselves from the recruitment process. Introduction: This case study examines the recruitment efforts of the National Center for Data Services (NCDS) for a paid internship program for BIPOC graduate students interested in data librarianship in health sciences settings. Methods: To enhance recruitment efforts and support applicants, NCDS met with consultants on equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. The recruitment process included reaching out directly to graduate programs, hiring an independent application coach who was available to consult with anyone interested in applying, holding informational sessions about the internship opportunity, and limiting the required components of the application, which included removing the need for letters of recommendation or support. Results: Although the target group was a very small pool of Library and Information Science (LIS) BIPOC students interested in medical and data librarianship, we received applications from all United States (U.S.) racial groups, except Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. The recruitment efforts led to 38 applications for 8 positions in 2022 and 59 applications for 12 positions in 2023. Conclusions: The resultant number of applications showed an interest and need for specialty programs for BIPOC LIS students and highlighted how recruitment methods impact participation in specialized programs. Further research is necessary to assess the impact of various recruitment styles for this target group and the impact of these recruitment methods.

Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including potential students) and to groups in risk of social exclusion (immigrants, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, etc.) or in need of various kinds of care and support. However, for libraries to be able to fulfil those tasks, they need properly trained staff who not only have the required competencies but also the right social attitudes. The paper presents an analysis of the social attitudes of academic librarians from twenty countries across the world as compared to the personnel of other types of libraries. The level of individual social capital, activity in social networks, aspirations in life and social and civic engagement were investigated. It was noted that the respondents tend to undervalue the importance of the work done by libraries for local communities. At the same time, the research showed that academic librarians have a somewhat lower level of individual social capital and trust than public librarians and less extensive social networks. Nonetheless, they are open to relationships with others, which enables them to engage in various social projects.

The study investigated the availability of reformation programmes for prisoners in North-West Nigeria. Descriptive survey was adopted as the design for the study. The population comprised the entire prison inmates, prison officials, lawyers and human rights activists (stakeholders) in the North West Nigeria (Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states). The target population comprised the stakeholders from the selected states (Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa and Kano). Stratified random sampling was used in the study. Out of the seven states, four were selected randomly, and 13 prisons were covered by the study. A total number of 1,338 respondents (1,068 inmates; 200 prison officials; 50 lawyers; and 20 human rights activists) were used for the study. The total population of inmates in the sampled prisons as at April 2017 was 3443. Out of this, 1068 inmates were selected proportionately to respond to the instrument. Researcher designed questionnaires were used for this study. A questionnaire is dedicated to each of the stakeholders. The validity of the instruments was ascertained using content and construct validity. The reliability of the instruments were determined through the use of internal consistency approach based on Cronbach Alpha. Forty inmates were used for the pilot study. The data collected from the study was analysed using descriptive statistics. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer research questions. The hypothesis was tested using chi-square. Findings of the study revealed that out of the five indicators for measuring reformation provisions, the only one described as available was religious education. While other indicators such as facilities, personnel and reading materials; educational continuity and motivation; remedial and adult education; and vocational education were described as not available. The study recommended that libraries should be provided in all prisons; to motivate inmates who excel in academics with scholarship opportunities during and after jail term; and the NPS should involve more private and public organizations in the area of training and development of inmates.

Librarianship is constantly confronted with unexpected and quickly evolving sociotechnical challenges, yet the documents that define the core professional competencies for librarians are infrequently updated. Based upon survey responses collected from 383 working librarians located in the United States, we describe a set of gaps between current competency guidelines and current library realities with regard to practice, management, communication, career development, relations, and personal attributes. We argue that professional library organizations, educators, and policymakers could formulate more relevant and impactful core competency documents by deliberately integrating the on-the-ground insights of librarians' lived experience.

There has been little examination of how criminological theory may help to inform library practice in correctional settings. This article takes steps to address this deficit by presenting a new and timely approach to prison library research. It suggests that situating prison library research within the disciplines of librarianship, education and criminology can lead to a deeper understanding of the contribution made by libraries to the lives of those in prison. The authors propose a theoretical model which draws on theories of desistance, informal learning theories and critical librarianship. This model can be used by both library and education researchers and practitioners to build a body of evidence on the value of the prison library and may act as a roadmap to good practice. It is an initial framework, intended to be adapted and refined as more empirical evidence is collected in this area.

Currently "Big Data" is an emerging field that presents several Information Technology challenges regarding the capture, storage search, structure, and visualization of this data. The real challenge for organizations is to find ways to extract value from it and provide better services to their clients. The data generated in academic and other institutions is vast and complex. Libraries face new challenges as they seek to determine their role in the handling of Big Data within their organization and use it to develop services. Thus, in most organizations, libraries will not have the knowledge to build new services unaided. Furthermore, libraries have always been information handlers and technology adopters; therefore, Big Data technologies will certainly affect their context. The purpose of this paper is to explore all these issues through a systematic literature review, unveiling the theories that underpin the paper's argument. It attempts to answer several research questions, such as how librarians are involved in the Big Data era? And what are the future research developments of Big Data within the library context? The study considered only papers published between 2012 and 2018 in English and presents the collected literature by grouping them according to the type of library each paper refers to. Thus, it identifies new and evolving roles in the context of all types of libraries. In addition, the study presents several interesting tables, which aim to help librarians locate relevant articles that will inform their practice and guide service development for users of large and complex datasets.

Purpose: This essay focuses on the Chinese-Japanese Library of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and examines how the Library collected and transported Chinese rare books to the United States during the 1930 and 1940s. It considers Harvard's rationale for its collection of Chinese books and tensions between Chinese scholars and the Harvard-Yenching Institute leaders and librarians over the purchase and "export" of Chinese books. Design/methodology/approach: This research is a historical study based on archival research at Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Harvard-Yenching Library, as well as careful readings of published primary and secondary sources. Findings: By examining the debates that surrounded the ownership of Chinese books, and the historical circumstances that enabled or hindered the cross-national movement of books, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism. Originality/value: Drawing upon the unexamined primary sources and published second sources, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism.

This article describes some of the methodology, practice and effect of reading groups run by Prison Reading Groups (PRG), which currently operates in 60 prisons across the UK, and is supported by the charity Give A Book. Groups choose what they want to read together and how they will read it. Reading aloud can aid literacy as well as being a force for collaboration and pleasure. Poetry can thrive in this environment, despite initial wariness, and Shakespeare has found some new and enthusiastic readers.

Escape rooms are used in a myriad of ways by businesses, teachers, and public libraries. They can be a great way to encourage team building, learning, and simply having fun in a non-threatening environment. This case study presents an innovative approach to engaging students, faculty, and community by using and showcasing unique academic library collections. This empowers them to discover what the library has to offer, spark creative and scholarly discussion, and make them comfortable in a potentially intimidating space. Following some brief background information, the authors describe the development, implementation, and results, and examine the impact of two separate escape rooms they created for different events in 2018 and 2019.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the establishment of metrics that can be used by libraries to analyze, anticipate, and plan for resource allocation for specialized print-based collections within an academic library. In the context of transactions associated with the circulation of library materials, that is checkouts, renewals, and holds, the resources this study will propose includes two ratios that can be used for evaluating and justifying continued allocation of library resources to specialized print collections. These ratios proposed are the Proportionate Number (P/N) and Internal P/N (I-P/N) Ratios. Beginning with the conceptual framework of how data driven decision making can contribute to the operation of the library, the study will also provide concrete examples of how to analyze data from an Integrated Library System (ILS). Data will be presented for the case study of Gumberg Library at Duquesne University. The study hopes to address a perceived gap in the literature that percentage of users accessing a collection is often not considered in the analysis of circulation data.

Introduction: Evidence-based practice is a process through which evidence in its various forms is sourced, appraised and applied in order to solve a problem, inform decision making, or improve practice. The purpose of this paper is to share findings from a qualitative research study that sought to identify evidence used by Australian special librarians, and explore influences associated with its use. Method: Data was collected through participant diaries and semi-structured interviews with five special librarians to capture and explore evidence use in practice. Analysis: Participant diaries were used to inform semi-structured interview questions. Data from the interviews was analysed using the constant comparative method to determine common themes. Results: Findings describe the role of evidence from a practitioner's perspective, which included what constitutes evidence in practice, and how and why it is used. This led to the development of a "map" of evidence used by Australian special librarians, guided by existing evidence-based practice frameworks. Conclusions: Results raise awareness of the types and uses of evidence in different circumstances by special librarians. Findings contribute an initial understanding of what constitutes best available evidence in the current evidence-based library and information practice model in the context of special libraries.

Based on a three-year collaboration with elementary school instructors, this paper discusses a creative approach to introducing younger students to the historical aspects and unique structure of the medieval book as a physical object. Through incremental activities, students learn to contextualize primary sources in both original and digital surrogates through the use of medieval manuscripts. The methods outlined can be repurposed for use with a variety of subject areas.

The South African Library for the Blind (SALB) contributes to the quality of life of print-impaired people encouraging independence through access to information, informed decision making, and taking pleasure in the enjoyment of recreational reading. In realizing the vision, SALB implemented two strategic models; agent mini-libraries and comprehensive mini-libraries. Management and administration of the services rendered is covered in detail. The project was pioneered in one of the provinces and has been rolled out to other provinces. The paper highlights how visually impaired people experience in a tangible manner, assistive technologies, training and interaction with community members and use libraries.

A study was conducted to examine the persistence and decay of web citations in theses and dissertations available at the Sokoine National Agricultural Library. Specifically, the study assessed the accessibility status of cited URLs, identified error messages and top level domains of inaccessible URLs, and calculated the half-life of web citations. Eighty-three theses and dissertations that were dated between 2007 and 2011 were stratified according to their years of publication and randomly selected for the study. These gave a total of 15,468 citations of which 1,487 (9.6%) were web citations. The findings show that a total of 862 (58%) web citations were inaccessible. The "404 File Not Found" error message was the most (92.7%) encountered and the ".com" domain had the greatest number (28.2%) of missing URLs. The average half-life for the URLs cited in theses and dissertations was 2.5 years. The study findings therefore indicate that many web resources cited in theses and dissertations available at SNAL had disappeared from their original locations. Collaborative efforts are thus required from various stakeholders in order to reduce the problem of URL decay.

In June 2003, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) embarked on a partnership to combine their collections documenting Arkansas history and politics. There is much to be gained by examining relationships where the partners bring special strengths to the table. This paper outlines the challenges and benefits of the collaboration between institutions with different missions and operational methods.

This article reports on collaboration between an information literacy (IL) instructor and a special collections librarian to create a hands-on special collections experience for entry-level IL students within the context of a credit-bearing class. Data collected during this experience found that exposing students to these materials can increase their enthusiasm for and engagement with the library and improve their IL and research skills. This article explains the methods for designing such class sessions and reports the results with students.

Introduction: Reports the conduct of a national survey in Sweden to establish the desired research priorities for libraries. The research sought to establish what evidence-base is needed for evidence-based practice. Method: The Delphi method was employed to solicit opinions on the kinds of research needed by libraries of all kinds in Sweden. Research topics were obtained from practising librarians and identified in the professional literature and discussion lists. Two rounds of questionnaire survey using the sixty-four themes extracted were followed by an interactive workshop. Panel members were nominated by the practitioners themselves. Analysis: Standard statistical methods were employed to derive means and standard deviations and the Spearman rank correlation statistic was used to compare the results from different library sectors. Results: Consensus among panel members was not achieved during the survey rounds, but the workshop resulted in the identification of the ten highest priority themes. The public, regional and school libraries are more concerned with relation of libraries to education and society at large, while academic and special libraries emphasize the changes in scholarly and business communication and the impact of new technologies. Conclusions: The consensus among different Swedish library sectors regarding the top research agenda can be reached only conditionally. Strong differences between them remain and have to be taken into account when implementing the agenda. The panel members regard the library future as uncertain and prioritize the topics that can help to foster readers and library users and strengthen strategic positions of libraries. (Contains 8 tables and 3 figures.)

Evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) was adapted from evidence-based medicine (EBM). In doing so, problems of EBM might affect EBLIP. One issue already known in medicine which may eventually reach the field of library and information sciences (LIS) is the phenomenon of "evidence reversal". An evidence reversal (ER) occurs when original information supporting a practice is contradicted by newer information concluded from a study of higher quality, meaning the study was more rigorous and less biased. Knowledge of ER will allow librarians and information specialists to improve the guidance they provide to professionals and researchers in other fields. For example, health librarians who support clinicians and health researchers and need to understand ER. Also, librarians and information specialists should be aware of this phenomenon as they are bound to eventually encounter conflicting evidence to inform their practice.

The literature on marketing library resources to distance students reaches back to at least the mid-1980s based on a simple EBSCOHost search across over 40 different databases. Authors of this study sought to develop a comprehensive understanding of what our colleagues have learned via research about this critical topic. Because the Web, as we know it, first materialized in the mid-1990s with the advent of Netscape Navigator, we chose to limit our research to two decades. According to Thorpe and Holt (2018), the systematic literature review helps researchers make sense of large volumes of information and allows for the translation and synthesizing academic research so that it can be utilized in policy or practical contexts (Para. 7). The current researchers considered this an ideal approach as we aim to develop a clear and comprehensive picture of the research on marketing library resources to distance populations.

In summer, 2002, the Education Division of the Special Libraries Association held a panel presentation on "Historical and Archival Collections in Education." From that session developed this article which discusses the need for finding aids, publicity, creative uses of the web, and collaborative ways to deal with these issues. Specific references to finding aids and web sites of interest to education historians and librarians, and brief descriptions of several special collections of historical education materials are included. Also highlighted is a new service, an exchange registry, which offers institutions a way to place materials where they are most needed.