This study will provide some inspiration and practical insights to academic libraries and educators within tertiary education who wish to experiment with digital upskilling programmes in their institutions. 2,661 students registered for extra-curricular digital skills workshops over a three-week period in the spring of the 2021 academic year, at a…

COVID is having immediate and long-term impacts on the use of libraries. But these changes will probably not alter the importance of the academic library as a space. In the decade pre COVID libraries saw a growing number of visits, despite the increasing availability of material digitally. The first part of the article offers an analysis of the…

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…

Institutional repositories have not lived up to their potential. Faculty consider preparing and submitting works to repositories onerous, they worry about making works freely available, and they fail to see benefits of submitting works to repositories. Nevertheless, opportunities to increase repository submissions exist, and IRs offer campuses a…

Student diversity in the classroom and on campuses is increasing. As librarians prepare to visit classrooms for single instruction sessions, it is important to account for global perspectives present in those environments as well as in the information that students use in their courses. This article presents a case study based on two workshops…

Student employees are essential to academic libraries on college and university campuses. The employment programme at this mid-sized university library intentionally seeks to engage students in work that not only benefits the library, but also provides students the opportunity to learn and hone skills that can contribute to academic and…

Its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) shape the academic library in terms of what it is and does, how it is seen, where it excels and struggles, and its potential for advancement or decline. The purpose of this research is to guide strategy development, decision making, and advancement of positioning by identifying and…

This article uses bibliometric tools to analyze the peer-reviewed publications of academic librarians from 32 accredited higher education institutions in Norway--10 university libraries and 22 college libraries--associate members of Universities Norway (UHR). The period 2016-2020 was chosen to enable us to better understand publication patterns…

This paper examines the role of librarians in e-learning programs, as a consequence of post-COVID adaptations in Nigerian universities. Through a review of the relevant literature and of current practice in existing e-learning programs in Nigerian universities, a discussion is developed around the significant roles librarians can play. The…

Mzuzu University Library provides various e-library services to postgraduate students. However, a minimal amount is known regarding the use of these e-library services by postgraduate students. This mixed methods quantitative study aimed to investigate postgraduate students' use of e-library services. The findings reveal that 95% of postgraduate…

In the wake of the COVID pandemic, many academic libraries sought virtual instruction options, like the embedded librarian model, bringing renewed interest to the topic. Debates defining embedded librarianship are plentiful and varied, but a review of the professional literature reveals a commonly used metaphor comparing embedded librarians to…

This is the second article in a two-part SWOT analysis of academic libraries. The purpose of this research is to guide strategy development, decision making and advancement of positioning by identifying and analyzing the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats impacting academic libraries. Its premise is that an understanding of these…

Academic libraries and their staff are increasingly involved in the Research Data Management (RDM) practices and processes in their universities. This article explores the impact that such initiatives have on the image and identity of academic libraries. This paper proposes that involvement in and leadership of RDM university practices has the…

"Predatory" publishing is a non-binary academic phenomenon, but personal and professional biases may influence the criteria used to create associated blacklists and whitelists. Academic librarians, as scholarly communicators, play an essential role in transmitting accurate information about "predatory" publishing to students,…

This article discusses the formation and development of the Library Advisory Group at the University of Essex, exploring the benefits of this as a vehicle for service enhancement and culture change within the library and the wider institution. It begins with a literature review discussing the use of participatory research, collaborative design and…