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Although many Nigerian universities are making efforts to provide access to digital library resources, the level of utilization of these resources have not been encouraging due to several factors. Information literacy has been identified as a major factor when considering the factors that enhance use of digital resources. In view of this, this study was designed to investigate how "information literacy skills" predict the utilization of digital library resource by university teaching staff. The study was built around two theoretical models, that is, SCONUL's information literacy model, and the Technology Acceptance Model. A correlational research design guided the study. The population consisted of 6,653 teaching staff from six federal universities in Southern, Nigeria, and six hundred and sixty-five (665) persons comprised the sample, proportionately chosen via stratified random sampling. The test instruments designed for this study were: Test tool titled "Skill Test on Information Literacy" (STIL), and a questionnaire titled "Usage of Digital Library Resources" (UDLR). The study used the Kuder-Richardson technique to determine the items' reliability yielding results of 0.77, 0.78, 0.75, 0.64, 0.81, and 0.81 for digital library resources usage. The study used multiple regression analysis for the research question. The findings revealed that in terms of extent, a weak positive relationship exists between the skills of university teaching staff in information literacy and utilization of digital library resources. On the whole, the findings showed a significant correlation between university teaching staff skills in information literacy and utilization of digital resources. It implies that in improving the usage of digital resources by university teaching staff, attention must be focused on their abilities to utilize these resources. It was recommended that librarians should have a strategy for training lecturers on digital skills as part of the overall plan for promoting the usage of digital resources by lecturers.

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.

Despite comics' popularity and cultural significance in Italy, its integration into Italian libraries has been slow, problematic, and uneven. This is reflected in the scarcity of academic research on the topic, which demands further in-depth exploration. In the context of Italian libraries, characterized by chronic underfunding and staffing shortages, comics might be perceived as a low priority. However, as essential cultural institutions, libraries must strive to reflect both the contemporary era and the evolving reading habits of their audience. Comics, in this regard, could prove to be -- and in part already are -- a critical resource, a 'booster' for libraries. This article aims to provide a broad and introductory framework for understanding the relationship between comics and libraries in Italy. It will specifically examine the challenges and opportunities associated with this incomplete integration, addressing specific issues such as cataloging, displaying, managing, and promoting comics collections. The first section will explore the historical context of the troubled relationship between Italian libraries and comics, in line with crucial international studies. Following this historical contextualization, the second part will examine the challenges faced by Italian librarians in creating and managing comics collections, including the enduring perception of comics as a medium primarily for children. The research employs a multifaceted approach, combining bibliographic analysis, an anonymous survey, and data from a conference co-organized by the researcher. This research examines the Italian library system's fragmented approach to comics. It aims to understand librarians' perceptions of the medium and how they integrate comics into their collections. It offers insights to enhance the dynamic relationship between comics and libraries in an evolving society.

In early 2021, the Schusterman Library at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa satellite campus took a new step towards building a culture of interest by creating the Graphic Scholarship Collection. This new endeavor is a curated collection of graphic novels, primarily non-fiction, aligned with the academic programs on campus, as well as promoting University initiatives in diversity, equity, and inclusion. A new organizational structure for the collection materials and their circulation metrics will be examined in detail. There will also be consideration of the challenges of selection and acquisition by a mixed team of selectors, some of whom have no experience with graphic novels and who have to resolve contradictions between the new and existing library collections. New graphic scholarship initiatives and faculty-library partnerships will be explored. In addition to developing workshops and other learning activities around the collection, the library is partnering with campus faculty in creating original course content. The collection's development has already had an impact by building and strengthening bonds across the campus, and it aims to mirror the growth of the University community.

This paper seeks to illuminate new perspectives on the concept of crisis in globalised higher education (HE) by focusing on knowledge generated by doctoral research. Doctoral research is a significant part of research and knowledge building in HE, particularly in science, and doctoral students contribute to the research capacity and knowledge building of institutions. This source of knowledge offers alternative perspectives on crisis in HE, providing a rich source of research which is often under-consulted. Using the British Library's digital repository EThOS, a collection of around 637,000 doctoral studies carried out in British universities, the research harnesses Generative Artificial Intelligence approaches in order to analyse the ways in which crisis is defined and constructed in doctoral research since 2000. Through a pilot study using a prototype of a new AI tool, the paper offers both conceptual and methodological insights into constructions of crisis in this under-used field of research.

The recent spike in book challenges has put school libraries at the center of heated political debates. I investigate the relationship between local politics and school library collections using data on books with controversial content from a sample of 6,631 public school libraries. Libraries in conservative areas have fewer titles with LGBTQ, race/racism, or abortion content and more Christian fiction and discontinued Dr. Seuss books. This is true even though most libraries have at least some controversial content. State laws that restrict curricular content are negatively related to access to some LGBTQ and race/racism titles. Finally, I present short-term evidence that book challenges in the 2021-22 school year are associated with decreases in the acquisition of new LGBTQ materials.

Many libraries and archives have recently released statements about harmful material in their collections and the descriptions of these collections. However, these types of statements are not required for any professional accreditation or membership, nor are there specific guidelines to follow. This study collected and analyzed statements from members of ARL (Association of Research Libraries) and CARL (Canadian Association of Research Libraries), measuring their prevalence and identifying common elements. The findings and discussion can be used as a resource by those hoping to create or amend a statement, and for the larger library community to take stock on this topic.

This article explores the relationships between faculty library use, their perceptions of the importance of library resources, and its impact on their research productivity at a public research university. The authors used a self-reported faculty survey and publication records from a faculty activity reporting system to answer this question. Findings showed that faculty's perceptions of the library resource for their research had no relationships with faculty research productivity, whereas a positive correlation was found between the frequency of use of online journals and databases, and faculty research productivity. Qualitative findings revealed that faculty viewed the library as providing and purchasing the needed library resources, and that they valued the librarians and library services as essential to their teaching and research.

This study investigates how instructors consider resource cost and availability when compiling assignments in their course syllabi. It uses the academic planning model from Lattuca and Stark to frame the influences on instructional material selection. It employs a critical incident technique method, asking instructors to take into account one course syllabus when making assignments. Findings address differences across formats including books, chapters, articles, and video. Findings show differences between disciplines and concerning lack of familiarity with fair use. It concludes that increased consultation with library personnel regarding course books would help provide students with affordable materials in compliance with fair use.

This study examines cooperative collection development (CCD) for area studies and foreign language collections at Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries, based on a 2020 survey. Respondents provided details about cooperative collection initiatives (CCIs) at their libraries and their attitudes toward CCD. Most respondents had a favorable opinion of CCD, citing access to a broader collection of materials and cost savings as primary reasons. Challenges include the work and time involved in managing CCIs. This composite picture of how libraries build collaborative collections and the perceived benefits and challenges of CCD will inform librarians and administrators alike as they consider how best to build area studies and foreign language collections.

This article provides an account of the making of KBLab, the data lab at the National Library of Sweden (KB). The first part discusses the work involved in establishing a lab as both a physical and a digital site for researchers to use digital collections at previously unimaginable scales. The second part explains how the lab has deployed the library's collections as data to produce high quality Swedish AI models, which constitute a significant new form of digital research infrastructure. We situate this work in the context of uneven AI coverage for smaller languages, and consider how the lab's models have contributed to the making of important AI infrastructure for the Swedish language. The conclusion raises the possibilities and challenges involved in continuing this type of library-based AI development.

The time and resources required to prepare archival collections for use by researchers is a source of constant frustration in archives and libraries. Almost always, aspirations and collections exceed limited resources. The last fifteen to twenty years have seen archivists and librarians putting great effort into increasing standardization and efficiency. However, there are few examples of applying techniques from other fields that are proven to increase productivity. This dual case study shows that applying Lean techniques, which were originally developed for automobile manufacturing, yields significant results: measurable reductions in processing time and resource use; increased adherence to standards; increased engagement in and willingness to change by staff; effective coordination across departments; and increased ability to meet the needs of stakeholders.

Background or Context: Public school library book challenges have garnered ample media attention in recent years as many school districts and advocacy organizations have reported record numbers of book challenges. Book challenges are not a new phenomenon, historically speaking, but they have often illuminated values clashes in communities and raise questions about the rights and freedoms of public school students. Judicial rulings and school district policies that address book challenges could provide insights for many members of school communities (including, but not limited to, school board members, students, parents, and teachers) as they experience challenges, but these aspects of the legal record and their influence on responses to book challenges remains underexamined in scholarship. Purpose, Objective, Research Question, or Focus of Study: The 1982 Supreme Court case "Island Trees School District v. Pico" remains the lasting judicial precedent for interpreting public school students' First Amendment rights as they interact with school library books. We examine the extent to which school district book challenge policies align with court precedent set in "Pico" (1982) and the implications for students' rights and democratic participation during book challenges. Research Design: Drawing on elements of the law and society framework as well as political analysis categories, this study uses qualitative methods to illuminate specific elements of district policies that govern book challenges. Specifically, we examine 29 policies in school districts that experienced a publicly reported book challenge between 2017 and 2021 to understand relationships between school district book challenge policies and the "Pico" (1982) precedent. Conclusions or Recommendations: Our findings reveal ample space between judicial rulings and school district policies we examine. In fact, we find a broader array of relevant actors in book challenge processes than conceived by the courts and raise implications for students' constitutional rights and protections related to who policies indicate may or must be involved in these processes, the settings in which book challenge decisions are made, and the limited roles for public involvement during school library book challenges.

Faced the vast amount of information, choosing the appropriate materials is a prerequisite for effective self-directed learning. The recommendation algorithm is a kind of intelligent technology that can accurately locate the required information which the users care about most. However, many recommendation techniques experience can not be trained adequately in scenarios with small sample data and extremely sparse ratings. Moreover, DLRAs (Deep learning based Recommendation Algorithms) require high hardware support. The probabilistic graph (PG) can effectively represent the implicit complex relations among nodes, but it still has the problem of sparse data sensitivity. Therefore, we propose a Matrix-Factorization-based Probabilistic Graph Model for Recommendation Algorithm (MF-PGMRA): By matrix-factorizing the sparse rating matrix, the users and items are mapped to the user/item spaces, respectively; We employ the inner product to data-enhance and overcome the problems of sparse data and cold start; Then, we build Probabilistic Graph to construct the "user-item" latent spaces and estimate the probability distribution based on expectation maximization (EM), so as to predict the ratings; Finally, we built a library management system with the recommendation module to highlight the benefits of MF-PGMRA for students' subject learning. According to a questionnaire, we confirmed that the students are satisfied with the system from four aspects of speed, accuracy, usability and convenience, which can confirm that the library management system based on MF-PGMRA can efficiently and accurately recommend suitable materials for students from the huge amount of learning materials to improve students' self-directed learning efficiency.

As libraries succeed in making journal literature seamlessly available through internet searches, faculty may be less aware of the library's role in their intellectual output. This research project explores how publication patterns of faculty at a public research university changed over time in relation to collection size, literature use, productivity, co-authorship, grant funding, and faculty demographics. Correlations among data points demonstrate how the availability and use of the literature is associated with faculty productivity. Use of the literature varies by discipline, co-authorship, and grant funding.

For more than 30 years, Peter Senge's theory of learning organizations has influenced the study of leadership and organizations. Researchers have studied various components of his framework: team cognition and mental models, team learning, shared vision, systems thinking, and personal mastery. But few articles have explored what it looks like in practice when the five disciplines of the learning organization are enacted in an organization. This article explores the ways in which these disciplines influenced the implementation and outcomes of a collection diversity audit at Sonoma State University Library. The authors discuss the ways that Senge's learning organization framework enabled them to create a sustainable model for evaluating diversity in selection and acquisition practices.

Historical and modern scientific thought is dominated by the English language, colonized science, patriarchal norms, and Westernized "ways of knowing." By making materials that lie outside that narrative discoverable (e.g., non-Western science, Indigenous/Aboriginal knowledge, women in science, etc.) we can assert that science is a global endeavor by representing diverse scientists on physical library shelves or ebook "shelves." The Cataloging and Metadata Librarian and Science and Outreach Librarian at Furman University, a small liberal arts college, collaborated on a project to address discriminatory practices in the catalog records of a subset of the libraries' STEM collection. Spurred by another project to update deprecated Cutters in Library of Congress call numbers, we assessed collection content with an eye to improve future collection development and created a local method for collocating DEI materials within an Alma consortium catalog. The intended goals of the project were to update the collection, improve metadata to increase discoverability, and develop an auditing process to use for other collections.

In academic libraries there has been growing interest in developing better ways to diversify collections, but STEM collections are sometimes overlooked. To better understand current practices and challenges, a survey was distributed to librarians with STEM collection responsibilities in the summer of 2021. Results from the survey indicated that STEM librarians care about improving the diversity of their collections but struggle with a lack of time, knowledge, and other resources needed to do so effectively.

February 12, 1924, is a landmark date in the annals of American music. The story of that snowy afternoon in New York has become almost legendary -- and the tale has undoubtedly become embellished in its telling and retelling over the past 100 years. The occasion was a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music," presented by Paul Whiteman and his Palais Royal Orchestra. According to program annotator Hugh C. Ernst (Whiteman's business manager), the so-called experiment was to be "purely educational," and it was Whiteman's aim to demonstrate "the tremendous strides which have been made in popular music" in the previous decade or so, with the apparent goal of increasing the presence of American vernacular music in the concert hall. The "jazz concerto" became "Rhapsody in Blue," by far the most memorable feature of the "Experiment in Modern Music." The mythology surrounding a notice had appeared in the "New York Tribune" announcing that the concert would be evaluated by a panel of judges "who will pass on 'What Is American Music?'" The notice went on to say that "George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto." The "jazz concerto" became "Rhapsody in Blue," by far the most memorable feature of the "Experiment in Modern Music." The mythology surrounding the work quickly developed, but as with many myths and urban legends, the story of "Rhapsody in Blue" has its basis in fact. The original manuscripts in the Music Division of the Library of Congress tell part of the story. These manuscripts start with several undated sketches for the opening theme of "Rhapsody in Blue" in a manuscript sketchbook that dates from 1924 and 1925. The only complete manuscript for the "Rhapsody" in Gershwin's own handwriting (fifty-six pages, for piano solo, with the jazz band part reduced for a second piano) has the date January 7, 1924, on its first page; this date is only three days after the "New York Tribune" announcement on January 4. "Rhapsody in Blue" has inspired much scholarly inquiry over the years. But if Whiteman hoped that his "Experiment in Modern Music" might help to bring American popular music into the concert hall, he could not possibly have imagined the extent to which the new "jazz concerto" would become world famous through recordings, sheet music, articles, and books, and that it indeed would become an iconic representation of its era. If challenged to compose for an "Experiment in Modern Music" concert today, as the author proposes, what might students create?

This article discusses an undergraduate module which introduces students to the study of the history of education through the lens of our own institutions -- UCL (University College London, UK), founded in 1826, and the IOE (Institute of Education, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society), founded in 1902. The module critically examines the close, but often hidden, connections between British education and empire, asking what impact these imperial legacies have today. After outlining the module's origins and relationship with the history of UCL and the IOE, the article sets its creation in the wider context of initiatives that seek to critique and reimagine institutional histories within higher education for a variety of purposes. The article also explores the developing role of the IOE Archives team in teaching, and explores how academics and archivists work together to teach institutional histories, and how this work can prompt change.

What began in a library science course as a collection development project serendipitously transformed into varied learning experiences for students across disciplines and program levels. This article shares the journey of how a singular lesson idea blossomed into an unintentional, multidisciplinary project that led to unexpected learning outcomes for all involved. [The page range cited on the .pdf (p97-107) is incorrect. The correct page range is p95-107.]

This study analyses the frequencies of inclusion of digital literary-educational proposals on the diversification of sex/gender/sexuality expectations by in-service Spanish teachers of secondary education (n=436), and the predictors that determine this inclusion. Based on the application of the instrument Digital Literary Education and the Construction of Gender Identities (DLECGI), the study is developed in non-experimental designs of a cross-sectional nature, and at the relational, explanatory and predictive levels of research, insofar as it seeks to reveal the socio-demographic, formative and didactic causes of the phenomenon or event of interest, and its degree of occurrence. The results obtained indicate the existence of a profile of teachers who promote the recommendation of this type of digital reading based on their belonging to non-binary gender groups with previous training in co-education and equality, and with explicit didactic stances on controversial issues. Likewise, the relationship between socio-demographic variables and the didactic positioning of teachers on the recommendation of digital readings on affective-sexual diversity shows that initial and/or ongoing specific training in co-education and equality is a key predictor of this relationship. These findings attest to the fact that the visibility and recognition of identity plurality in literary education necessarily involves the proposal of counter-hegemonic models regarding gender and affective-sexual identity. In this regard, teacher training must continue to progress towards the adoption of inclusive didactic approaches within the framework of educational principles for democratic citizenship, regardless of the gender or personal and social identity that defines these teachers.

There are a few empirical studies that examine the portrayal of the Middle East and its people in young children's picture books. Many of these books depict Muslim life and celebrations without delving into the specificities of each Middle Eastern country. This study, which focuses on Iran as a non-Arab Muslim majority Middle Eastern country, investigates how Iran and its diverse cultures are represented in children's picture books published in North America. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 27 picture books written in English between 2000 and 2021, targeting children aged three to nine. The findings reveal that a significant number of these books revolve around Nowruz celebrations (the Persian New Year) or ancient Persia, often presented through popular folktales. These findings underscore the need for books that depict the contemporary lives of Iranians, both within and outside the country, through narratives and illustrations.

Critical representation in literature and curricula requires an emancipatory agenda and examination of the ways in which people of diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, and other socially marginalized identities are portrayed, an assessment of how relevant, affirming, and accurate those representations are, and a consideration of the impact on a child's sense of self and 'other.' This essay includes sample audit criteria for critical representation highlighting five sections: Storyline & Sense of Justice; Affirmation & Self-Worth; Relationships Among People; Author/Illustrator Background; and Language & Terminology, all with a focus on 'mattering' and holistic wellbeing of students of the global majority. Audit criteria explicitly engage questions of critical race theory such as: Does the storyline encourage passive acceptance of inequity, or active resistance against it? Are there messages that limit or damage a child's aspirations or sense of self-worth? The essay concludes with examples of how practitioners are using the audit criteria to identify strengths, needs, and opportunities to improve their practice.

Preprint articles are available on servers, such as arXiv and ChemRxiv, at no-cost to benefit the movement toward open access of research. However, the use of preprint research articles as a reference source in academia is not heavily documented. To examine if researchers are utilizing preprint articles, this paper examines citation trends in the dissertations of chemistry and physics PhD candidates who studied at four University Centers in the State University of New York system (SUNY). Using citation analysis methodology, references cited in PhD dissertations published between 2018-2021 were analyzed. Key findings showed that PhD candidate authors cited preprint articles at a low rate, and relied on traditional resources for their dissertations, such as articles and books. Physics preprints were cited with more frequency than chemistry preprints. This data provides a benchmark for tracking the use of physics and chemistry preprints in academic research. The results of this study are also useful for examining library collections, particularly around core journal titles. Additionally, this paper raises questions about the information literacy skills of doctoral students. The doctoral students' best practices of using preprints could be explored in future research.

Students in STEM and the health sciences have unique learning needs, including preparation for exams required for entering a STEM or health sciences profession. Students in these areas thus often seek, in addition to or instead of traditional course materials and library resources, digital study tools that utilize techniques such as spaced repetition. However, such tools are often sold as individual subscriptions that may be prohibitively expensive. The article outlines four approaches libraries may consider to help make digital study tools in STEM and the health sciences more equitable and affordable: assess, adopt, adapt, and create.

At the 2023 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, the International Relations Committee, Americas Subcommittee invited panelists from academic, research, and public libraries to discuss various ways of sharing Indigenous-made materials from the United States and Latin America in the panel, "Sharing Knowledge: Projects and Outreach for Indigenous Patrons, Languages, and Documents." Collectively, the panel addressed various topics ranging from collecting and digitizing Indigenous materials for teaching, returning Indigenous materials, and crafting facsimiles of Indigenous pictorial manuscripts. For "Global Perspectives," the authors have provided written summaries of four presentations by individuals from the Phoenix Public Library, Indiana University-Bloomington, Library of Congress, and Arizona State University. What follow are individual summaries by Alex Mada, Heather Sloan, Giselle M. Aviles, and Seonaid Valiant.

Diversity is an important issue in higher education communication and media programs. This study shows how librarians can use audit data to assess and strive for diversity in their library's print monographic collections. This article explores aspects of diversity within two fields of study, communication and media, and discusses the results of a diversity audit of communication and media monographs published between 2013 and 2022. The author analyzes thirteen diversity-related topics and their coverage within communication and media. A discussion of the current landscape as well as implications for researchers, librarians, and publishers are provided.

This study reports faculty experiences regarding the discovery of scholarly content, highlighting similarities and differences across a range of academic disciplines. The authors interviewed twenty-five faculty members at a public, high-research university in the Midwest to explore the intersections of discovery, browsing, and format from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Although most participants rely on similar discovery tools such as library catalogs and databases and Google Scholar, their discovery techniques varied according to the discipline and type of research being done. Browsing is not a standard method for discovery, but it is still done selectively and strategically by some scholars. Journal articles are the most important format across disciplines, but books, chapters, and conference proceedings are core for some scholars and should be considered when facilitating discovery. The findings detail several ways in which disciplinary and personal experiences shape scholars' practices. The authors discuss the perceived disconnect between browsability, discovery, and access of scholarly literature and explore solutions that make the library central to discovery and browsing.

Based at De Montfort University, Decolonising DMU is a strategic initiative working to create an anti-racist institution where all can achieve. Growing from DMU's Freedom to Achieve project Decolonising DMU extends anti-racist work across the structure and composition of the institution, moving away from a sole focus on the curriculum. The Library has played a core role within both of these projects working with staff and students to gain better representation in library collections, facilitating library work experience to enhance staff and professional diversity, working with academics to decolonise reading lists, enabling changes in pedagogical practice and to raise awareness of issues and the lived experience of people of colour. This ultimately leads to changes in practice to enable a better sense of belonging and visibility for students of colour which in turn leads to more successful engagement and student retention. The article provides examples of actions, challenges and ways forward, with specific reference to Library and Learning Services. Reflections on the complex and evolving nature of this work are made alongside the implications for the student and staff experience plus service and collection development. This work reinforces the critical importance and impact of the decolonising H E movement on academic libraries and student success.

This paper examines the University of Sydney Library's development and piloting of a methodology to survey its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural collections, to enhance catalogue metadata and allow culturally sensitive material to be identified and protected. The research falls broadly within the interpretivist epistemology and draws methodologically on Participative Action Research. The pilot survey was conducted using a qualitative, collection-based approach, more specifically Direct Collection Analysis. A broad syntax was used to identify cultural content within the catalogue metadata, and items individually examined to determine the nature of their contents. The findings surface the benefits and shortcomings of the initial methodology. It is recommended future surveys be conducted using more specific terminology checklists and undertaken by a dedicated team that has received care and handling training for cultural materials and is led by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander expert in cultural collections.

This article describes the partnership between Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and the Nashville Public Library (NPL) called Limitless Libraries. Through this resource-sharing partnership, learners can access the NPL collection, connecting them to books and other materials outside the walls of their schools. This breaks down barriers to access by allowing learners to have even more print and digital items at their fingertips, right when they need them, and supports efforts to promote lifelong reading and learning. Limitless Libraries has the impact of boosting engagement and is shown to be a model for how school and public libraries can work together for the benefit of learners, staff, and patrons.

The Diverse BookFinder (DBF) and its Collection Analysis Tool (CAT) were co-founded by Dr. Krista Aronson at Bates College, with support from an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant. It was recognized in 2021 by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) as one of the Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning. Through its detailed data collection process and its nine thematic categories, the DBF allows users to see who is being represented in children's picture books as well as the messages those books portray (Aronson, Callahan, and O'Brien 2017). This is important because when students do not learn about different cultures or communities, they may make assumptions or believe stereotypes that can lead to isolation and may even foster prejudice. It is therefore crucial that learners read all kinds of stories to learn about the diverse experiences of people. This is where the DBF's unique data, collections, analysis tool, and other resources can come into play. Sharing the DBF with classroom teachers, administrators, and parents, conducting diversity audits using the CAT, utilizing the DBF's book database for acquisitions, and engaging with publishers and booksellers to communicate collection needs are all essential elements in achieving a well-rounded school library collection. These steps will allow librarians and educators to provide the varied and balanced school library collections that our learners both need and deserve.

The optical lantern projector was first introduced as a teaching aid into schools all over the world at the turn of the twentieth century. Because slides were expensive, special slide lending services played an important role in supplying schools with images they could project. Existing studies on the use of this new medium in education have hinted at the influential position of these slide libraries but have never analysed them as a phenomenon in itself. Based on a wide variety of archival and published sources, this contribution charts the slide lending service "landscape" in Belgium. It demonstrates how these slide libraries were framed as weapons in the intense conflict between Catholics and free-thinking Liberals that occupied Belgium for most of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and in which schooling was a main point at issue. By analysing the slide collections of these organisations by means of their catalogues, this article shows to what extent ideology influenced the topics that were represented in the materials they provided. It also shows that the opposing sides reached common ground when it came to their home country. Since the international trade did not offer the types of slides they wanted to show to their pupils, teachers working in slide lending services often created their own slide series. In their slide sets on Belgium, both non-confessional and Catholic lending services represented their relatively young country as one geographical entity of which its inhabitants could be proud.

Fulfilling requests for media content in support of classroom and faculty research activities is demanding for academic libraries. Libraries strive to meet requests for media while working with challenges such as intellectual property license contracts, advances in digital communication technologies and copyright issues. This article provides an in-depth look at the changing demands of collections and services in addressing faculty requests for media, and outlines both a collection and a service strategy developed by librarians at the University of South Florida Libraries to provide faculty and students with access to diverse media titles in formats ranging from physical to streaming.

Using data from seven R1 and R2 universities in Ohio, this study seeks to determine the extent of usage of full-text e-journal articles stored across multiple platforms. Specifically, COUNTER 5 data is presented from five major academic journal publishers (Taylor & Francis, SAGE, Oxford, Wiley, and Springer), looking at usage within each of the publishers' respective platforms, as well as in EBSCO, JSTOR, and OhioLINK's Electronic Journal Center platform. The overarching goal of the analysis is to identify where exactly usage occurred for this e-journal content within the different platforms, especially in cases where an individual title has duplicate full-text access. Analysis of this data was conducted using Tableau and Excel. Findings raise significant questions about end-user behavior in terms of students' and faculty's ability to locate full text, regardless of whether it is discoverable from Google or other commercial search engines. The findings also suggest a strong connection between EBSCO usage and the academic calendar, with peak usage (as a percentage of overall usage) occurring in October, November, March, and April. Lastly, findings for Taylor & Francis e-journals within EBSCO call into question what these duplicate holdings mean for "big deal" subscription packages.

In recent years, the opportunities for academic libraries to engage as a partner in digital initiatives in academia have expanded significantly. The traditional focus on digitization, preservation, and dissemination of collections has developed and shifted considerably, bringing new strategies for adequately serving the changed academic needs, as well as building and utilizing different types of collections. The goal of this article is to elaborate on these strategic shifts by presenting one of Panitza Library's newest digital collections projects - the "Sound Library" of the American University in Bulgaria, thus sharing insights into the practical process.

This case study details how a community college library, in response to rising textbook costs and COVID-related closures, advocated for and received an increase in funding to provide online copies of many textbooks in its reserve collection. It also provides a glimpse into the roadblocks acquisitions librarians might encounter in trying to bolster online textbook collections, such as licensing issues, expense, and loan periods. The initiative resulted in a major expansion of access to etextbooks, particularly lower undergraduate titles from large textbook publishers. The new etextbooks varied greatly in popularity. Circulation statistics of print textbooks are presented along with usage data for etextbooks for the first year of this initiative. Initial statistics illustrate the potential popularity of etextbooks and also show the need for further investigation about which disciplines are best served by etextbook access, and how best to raise awareness of these titles for professors as well as students.

For the last decade or more, circulation numbers of physical materials have declined in academic libraries across the United States. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered society and daily life, not to mention library functions. In particular, fears of contagion via physical surfaces and transmission by contact led many libraries to shutter their in-person services or temporarily close altogether. The circulation of physical materials was hit particularly hard, as the ability to browse shelves, check out items, access interlibrary loan, and a host of other similar services were curtailed. This article will examine the statistical markers of physical material handling (checkouts, renewals, item browses, etc.) for two years before and after the pandemic, to reach conclusions about how COVID-19 impacted usage, what we can tell about general patterns in circulation before and due to these changes, and ultimately what these numbers tell us about the future of traditional material use.

The digitization of library and archive collections over the last two decades has enabled efforts to reform history education through the integration of primary sources. Currently the Library of Congress provides one of the largest digital collections of its kind. The authors' project, with support from the Library, provides social studies teachers with explicit guidance for teaching historical thinking. The authors, a group of university-based researchers and experienced social studies classroom teachers, conducted an iterative, action research study to identify learning trajectories in history education. In this article, the authors describe their process, introduce the learning trajectories matrix, and provide suggestions for integrating it into the classroom.

Academic libraries are expanding their collections to meet the technological and leisure needs of their students, but support for accessibility and curriculum can often be overlooked. At the University of North Texas Libraries, the Access Services Department utilized an internal grant to address the accessibility and curriculum gaps in its collection by offering access to equipment such as C-Pen readers, electronic translators, and sensory items. This article describes the steps taken to create a new circulating collection of equipment items. Best practices for cataloging, circulation, item storage, and procedures, as well as strategies for promoting the collection are also discussed.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has considerably increased among students, including students with vision impairment (SVI). There has been limited work on the information and digital needs of people with disabilities, particularly SVI who were studying for their masters or MPhil and were involved in research activities in Pakistan. This study is an effort to explore various obstacles, expected services and support for SVIs from their universities, libraries, and Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan. This study is qualitative in nature, and an interview guide was used to collect data from the participants in Lahore, Pakistan. The results of this study showed that students with vision impairment use a variety of digital information resources. However, very few use the higher education commission of Pakistan subscribed databases due to restricted access and complex interfaces. The hindrances include lack of university support, limited training opportunities, non-availability of digital library services, and others. The participants highlighted a variety of needed library services and support from their departmental as well as central libraries. It is assumed that the results of this study will help the relevant authorities to make friendly policies and improve library services to facilitate the SVI.

In 2018, the University of Winnipeg Library introduced the Syllabus Service to improve the course reserves submission process. This initiative has allowed library staff to proactively support copyright in e-reserves and provided opportunities to improve accessibility for students. The service has also encouraged faculty and instructor use of course reserves by reducing the time and effort required to submit requests, and has eased the workload of reserves staff by leveraging the expertise of the Copyright Office.

Libraries in Nigeria have long struggled to adequately serve the information needs of visually impaired individuals, particularly those who are literate. Despite this, scholarly research addressing these issues in South-Eastern Nigeria is lacking, highlighting the urgency of investigating predictors of user satisfaction among visually impaired students in SLMCs. The research design utilizes a survey methodology across four states in South-Eastern Nigeria, encompassing a total population of 95 individuals. Data collection involves administering questionnaires to visually impaired students and SLMC personnel, followed by comprehensive data analysis using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Findings reveal a positive correlation between information needs, library accessibility, and user satisfaction, while library services and media-format availability did not significantly influence user satisfaction. Impediments to user satisfaction include inadequacy of media formats, contents, outdated materials, lack of equipment, and recording studios. Addressing these challenges is crucial to improving library engagement and user satisfaction among visually impaired students in South-Eastern Nigeria, ultimately fostering more inclusive and supportive educational environments.

A diversity audit of the natural resources monographs took place in the spring and summer of 2022 at the California Polytechnic University, Humboldt Library. The goals of the audit were to construct a diversity audit that could be undertaken with very limited time and personnel availability. The findings have provided the library with important information about diversifying its science collections. This paper covers the audit methods, results, a discussion of the findings, and recommendations on best practices for diversifying science collections.

This paper provides a snapshot of United States academic libraries in 2020 and explores longitudinal trends in staffing and expenditures for 1996 to 2020. The authors merged and analyzed academic library data from the National Center for Education Statistics from over 4,000 postsecondary institutions. Characteristics are explored by region and maps are provided. Total inflation-adjusted library expenditures have increased steadily for all regions from 1996 to 2020, including in the two major expenditure categories of staffing and collections. In the Northeast and West, averages are markedly higher in staffing and total expenditures than the other two regions.