Redefining Diversity: Creating an Inclusive Academic Library through Diversity Initiatives

ABSTRACT

This article contends that it is essential for academic librarians to identify and remain mindful of the unique needs of an increasingly diverse student demographic to ensure that academic libraries are a welcoming place for all students. It is through diversity initiatives that we can expect to improve the educational outcome for students by presenting the library as a vital part of their college experience. The article defines diversity in the most “elastic” sense of the word—including minority racial groups, but expanding the term to include international students, graduate students, returning students, distance learners, transfer students, “at-risk” students, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender students.     

Welcoming Spaces: Supporting Parenting Students at the Academic Library

Academic libraries serve many student constituents, but one often overlooked group is students who are parenting children. Students who, by necessity or volition, bring their children with them to the library have specific needs. Serving these students, who often have difficulty succeeding and graduating at college, should be a priority for academic libraries. Offering assistance can help this group focus on their studies, achieve their academic goals, and thus decrease universities' attrition rates. This article begins by drawing on anecdotal evidence, then reviews existing literature on parenting students. Next, it examines and analyzes policies on children in academic libraries at large American universities. Half of all academic libraries don't have clearly accessible policies, and some have policies that discourage bringing supervised children to libraries, while a few have welcoming policies and facilities. This research shows that academic libraries can still make progress to serve a key constituency. Finally, it offers solutions for how academic libraries can serve parenting students, given varying spatial and financial constraints, as well as diffusing potential concerns that might hold academic libraries back from serving this part of the academic community. This analysis could be supplemented by further inquiry and interviews with libraries on how their policies were developed and are being implemented or with parenting students on what they desire and need from the academic library.     

Developing Proactive Partnerships

Summary

Enhancing diversity programs and initiatives has been a challenge for higher education and academic libraries. Financial constraints at colleges and universities have made it essential to develop academic partnerships with other departments on campus to exchange ideas and combine resources. One academic diversity program, which has been around for approximately 30 years, is Minority Cultural Centers. Minority Cultural Centers provide an invaluable support service for minority students. This article provides background and current knowledge about Minority Cultural Centers and obstacles these centers face as we head into the 21^st century. A sample proposal, outreach ideas and marketing strategies will help librarians get started into developing a long lasting relationship with Minority Cultural Centers.     

Collaborative strategies for low-use research materials

Librarians are often fond of proclaiming that they are developing digital libraries. The clear evidence however is that the better strategy is to design services to “deliver digitally.” A brief overview of current, past, and future publishing trends will reveal data key to any understanding of evolving policies for preservation of a nation's intellectual output. These data highlight that academic libraries, at least, are presenting homogeneous collections of digital serials. Together with the budget pressures to maintain serial collections, the result is a lack of collecting diversity of the intellectual publishing of interest to academe. Presently, academic libraries in Australia are committing between 30% and 40% of their acquisitions budgets to digital resources. Yet, this cannot buy more than 10% of the published serials output. The availability of serial information will become more and more constrained in the very near future as the range of print serial titles shrinks in accordance with institutional buying power.CAVAL Collaborative Solutions is a consortium of Victorian university libraries and the State Library of Victoria. Established 25 years ago, it enables libraries to pursue projects together. CAVAL created the CARM Centre in 1997 to house one million volumes in state-of-the-art environmental conditions and fire suppression. The CARM Centre is unique in that it is a true collaborative collection of little used research materials. Ownership of materials is relegated to the CARM Centre. Simultaneously, each member takes on ownership of the CARM Centre's total collection. This results in a collection with no duplication, a no-discard policy, and an expectation for 250 or more years or functional service. Moreover, it provides individual libraries with a means of rationalizing collections and the ability to avoid capital expenditures. There are many implications for the member libraries as well as to the library system in Victoria and beyond.     

Breaking Down Barriers: Making it Easier for Academic Librarians of Color to Stay

The strength of every nation lies in its people. In America, that strength can be found in the rich cultural heritage of a diverse nation. Unfortunately, diversity does not permeate all facets of life–specifically in academia and its libraries. The question continues to be asked: where are all of the academic librarians of color? For the ones who are tenured or who are seeking tenure, how can they be retained within the ranks of academia? The focus of this study is to explore and define some of the explicit and implicit barriers faced by academic librarians of color through a review of the literature. Many of the explicit barriers stem directly from racism and from being perceived as the “other” while implicit barriers are more subtle and stem from the covert damage that toxic environmental forces have on shaping the career and work experiences of librarians of color. This analysis also offers methods for breaking down these barriers (through ways such as mentoring) for institutions to consider—along with some strategies to empower librarians of color themselves.     

Library Usage Trends and Needs of International Students

This paper seeks to discover international students’ perceptions of academic libraries. Specifically, Troy University's library in the southeast corner of Alabama was studied. This university was chosen because of the researchers’ familiarity with it. Troy University was also chosen because of its diverse student population. By discovering the needs of this population of students and comparing them to the needs of more traditional American students, it will be possible to better understand the distinct needs of international students in general.     

RSS在高校图书馆应用的大学生需求调查分析——以南京高校为例

通过对中美高校图书馆开展RSS服务的网络调查,发现我国高校图书馆开展RSS服务的不足之处;然后以南京地区高校为例,对RSS在高校图书馆应用的大学生需求进行问卷调查,了解当今大学生对高校图书馆提供的RSS服务的认知、需求和利用情况;最后对高校图书馆根据用户需求开展RSS服务提出建议,加大RSS服务推广力度,提供详细的RSS操作说明及工具,针对用户专业特点开展RSS服务,加强RSS与其他2.0技术的融合,创造图书馆2.0技术学习氛围。     

高校学生信息素养教育的缺失与策略研究

信息素养是当代大学生必备的基本素质之一,良好的信息素养将是大学生未来生存和发展的基础.作为信息素养教育基地的高校图书馆,要针对当前高校信息素养教育存在的缺失,充分利用图书馆的教育职能,采取切实可行的措施,加强大学生信息素养教育.参考文献5.     

Noise Management in Twenty-First Century Libraries: Case Studies of Four U.S. Academic Institutions

University libraries have had to provide acceptable noise levels for many years and this pressure has not diminished in the twenty-first century. Library space has to be utilized to ensure noise levels are best managed. A study was undertaken across four university libraries in South Florida to determine how universities utilized their limited space to satisfy both individual and collaborative study needs of their students. Directors and key librarians were surveyed and interviewed, and on-site visits were conducted. Results supported findings from the literature indicating that it is best to observe students’ natural use of library space and designate those areas accordingly. Additionally, it was found that current pedagogical practices place a greater need for group study spaces, which compete against the vital need for quiet study areas. It was also discovered that designated floor levels used to separate sound are compromised by popular open mezzanine designs that allow sound to permeate between floors. Solutions are presented to minimize noise issues that can be applied at any academic library.     

互联网免费期刊与图书馆期刊资源建设

通过对互联网免费学术期刊资源的调查,从顶级域名、网站、免费形式、期刊类型、稳定性及质量等方面对互联网免费学术期刊的现状进行分析,探讨互联网免费学术期刊资源对图书馆期刊资源建设的影响。     

Use of Social Networking Sites by Academic Librarians in Six Selected States of Nigeria

The attractiveness of social networking sites (SNSs) has extended to almost all professionals in numerous human organizations including the library. Librarians as a result of this development are now making use of these sites to connect to other libraries and librarians both within and outside their environment. However, it is observed that the use and benefits derived from social networking sites by Nigerian librarians, generally, and those in academic libraries, particularly, has not been well documented. It is against this backdrop that this study examined the use of social networking sites to both the libraries and the librarians in selected academic libraries in six Nigerian States. A survey research design approach was adopted. The simple random study drew upon 200 academic librarians from academic libraries across six selected States in Nigeria. Five research questions were raised and answered by the study. The results demonstrate that Facebook and Twitter are mostly use by academic librarians. Academic librarians are making use of SNSs on a weekly basis and partially on a daily basis. Many potential benefits of SNSs were indicated both to the librarians and their libraries such as creating opportunity to connect with people across the globe, which includes those that have never been seen and those that one is not sure of coming in contact with. It was also found that SNSs give opportunity for academic libraries to incorporate SNSs as a means of creating more interactive user centered library and information services. Examples of the defects identified associated with SNSs include sexual harassment, cybercrime, fraud, and spreading of spam. It is expected that the outcomes of this study will serve as pioneer data upon which future related studies will be anchored.     

英美数据管理计划与高校图书馆服务

[目的/意义] 为我国开展数据管理计划服务提供参考和借鉴。[方法/过程] 以科研人员数据管理计划服务需求框架为研究基础,选取英美两国20所开展科研数据管理计划服务的高校图书馆作为研究对象,结合两国科研资助机构发布的数据管理计划政策,以高校图书馆的官方网站为数据源,分析总结数据管理计划服务的内容。[结果/结论] 资助机构数据管理计划政策推动高校图书馆数据管理计划服务的产生,高校图书馆数据管理计划服务内容多样,但水平不一。     

Damn the Recession,Full Speed Ahead

ABSTRACT

Academic libraries have undergone an evolutionary change as emerging technologies have impacted operations and services during the past two decades. For much of this period, increasing budgets have enabled libraries to keep pace with needed change. For the past two years, many academic libraries have lost significant funding due to the economic recession. This article argues that it is not a time for retrenchment and timidity but for expansion and boldness for academic libraries. The library that thrives, even in the midst of a recession, will be the one which seizes the opportunity to redesign itself for the future.     

Communication and Teaching

Summary

Recent research findings have documented the relationship between fostering diversity in organizations and overall organizational success. From the perspective of the library administrator, it is incumbent upon those in library and information science education to provide instruction and an academic environment, which facilitates learning about diversity among those who will be expected to contribute to the success of their employing organizations. However, there are difficulties associated with communication and instruction about issues such as diversity, race and gender. The scholarship associated with communication theory provides a worthwhile basis for understanding the nature of these difficulties and for identifying factors to consider in enhancing that instruction in better preparing graduates.     

提升高校图书馆物业管理绩效的途径探析

简要介绍了国内外物业管理及其研究情况,回顾了高校图书馆实行物业管理的产生与发展,分析了图书馆物业管理实务及其研究现状,指出提升高校图书馆物业管理绩效的途径,要设置专门机构、实行外包管理、明确权利义务、加强监督管理、健全工作档案,逐步实现图书馆物业管理专业化和规范化。参考文献7。     

Fostering entrepreneurship in Omani academic libraries: Examining the present and pioneering future opportunities

This study evaluated the entrepreneurial culture in Omani university libraries and analyzed the benefits and difficulties that come with it. The main aims was to examine the resources and guidance offered by these libraries for creating an entrepreneurial culture as well as the perceived challenges faced by library staff and students. The study also tried to identify effective programs and top practices from other academic libraries that might be applied to the Omani context.A combination of semi-structured interviews with staff members from five libraries and surveys given to students in 10 libraries were used to accomplish these goals. The results of this study showed that the Sultanate of Oman's academic libraries actively support entrepreneurial culture and are aware of their potential as centres for its diffusion. They do, however, face challenges, such as a dearth of competent workers in the field of business and a lack of pertinent collections to support the entrepreneurial culture. The study also emphasized the need for Omani academic libraries to improve the services they offer in the area of entrepreneurship and spread knowledge of its significance, particularly in light of the nation's sustainable development aspirations.By contributing to understanding entrepreneurial culture within the context of Omani academic libraries, this research provides valuable insights for library professionals, educators, and researchers. It identifies current challenges and opportunities and shares successful initiatives from other academic libraries, emphasizing the significance of fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in academic libraries to promote innovation and contribute to the overall advancement of the library industry and information institutions in the Arab world.     

An Information Access Model at a Distant Branch Library

Abstract

Academic branch libraries located at a distance from the parent institution often face unique challenges in meeting users' needs for scholarly information. This is especially true for distant branch libraries that do not have a specialized function or collection, but who often face the challenge of meeting users' needs for scholarly materials across a wide array of academic disciplines. This paper discusses the definition of academic branch libraries and the information access plan developed for the Regents Center Library at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus, located some 40 miles from the main parent institution, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. In addition, a discussion of the mission, academic programs, and special user characteristics of the Edwards Campus that impacted the development of the information access plan is included. Finally, the factors that affected and will continue to affect the plan, along with methods for managing the implementation of the plan, are provided.     

COVID-19 doesn't change anything: Neoliberalism,generation-ism,academic library buildings,and lazy rivers

Does COVID-19 challen04ge the persistence of neoliberalism? The pandemic and popular resistance to globalization seem to coincide, and there considerable discussion of neoliberalism within LIS now. First, this paper defines the centrality of the market as neoliberalism. With that in place, the remaining parts of the paper will explore and document phenomena in and related to academic libraries that instantiate how neoliberalism stubbornly persists. Second, the continuing reliance on generational cohorts to characterize incoming students – generation-ism– is a manifestation of categories of consumption and marketing. The influence of generation-ism on academic libraries is significant in the form of design pressures on space and to market the college experience. Third, where neoliberalism does tend to drive higher education investments in facilities, it results in the “lazy river” trend. This will be examined in direct contrast to the finance/space pressures on academic libraries. The paper concludes with a short discussion of these factors and what this analysis can tell us about academic libraries going forward into a post-COVID-19 era.     

试论高校图书馆在大学生自主学习中的地位与作用

分析了自主学习模式实施前后高校图书馆在大学生自主学习中地位作用的变化,提出从构建机制、创造环境和营造氛围几个关键环节入手,全面提升高校图书馆在大学生自主学习中的地位,发挥更好的作用。参考文献4。