Digital Commons Network^™

Subjective Cataloging And Acquisitions In Relation To Controversial Titles: A Collection Analysis Of Challenged Lgbtq+ Titles In Louisiana Libraries, Madeline Moghimi

SLIS Connecting

In late 2022, the Attorney General of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, began a campaign to block access to books considered sexually graphic in Louisiana libraries (Landry, 2023). In a report released in February 2023, Landry called for a system that would prevent minors from being able to access objectionable books (Landry, 2023). Despite Landry’s claim that this is not censorship or an attempt at banning books, this can prevent access, effectively censoring titles for a subsection of the population. While Landry did not call for books to be moved to a different collection, this attempt at blocking access has made censorship …

Comparing Library Websites At Four-Year Public Universities In Arkansas, Alice Bessette

SLIS Connecting

From accessibility to website architecture and everything in between, academic libraries can have a profound impact on the students of their institutions. Simmonds and Andaleeb (2001) argue that academic libraries are “the heart of the learning community” (p. 626). They go on to explain that the support librarians offer students and staff is vital to the community’s search for knowledge. Reitz (2017) said a variation of this as well, stating that academic libraries are “integral” parts of the institutions they support. In an increasingly digital world, websites serve as primary entry points for individuals looking to access their college or …

Spotlights: Faculty, Alumni, Festival, Stacy L. Creel, Ph.D.

SLIS Connecting

Learn about keynote speakers at the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival and updates from Dr. Ashley Marshall and alumni Jennifer Ottinger.

Understanding Perceptions Of A Peruvian Local Market Program: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Rosmery Ramos-Sandoval Dr., Jano Ramos-Diaz

The Qualitative Report

Despite growing global interest in short food supply chains (SFSCs), little is known about how consumers in developing countries perceive these models, especially through digital platforms like social media. This study investigates how Twitter users represent and perceive SFSCs in the context of the Peruvian government´s “De la Chacra a la Olla” program. The study analyzed 1,167 tweets from Peruvian Twitter users referencing the hashtag #DeLaChacraALaOlla between 2014 and 2020, using reflexive thematic analysis within an exploratory case study framework to examine consumer perceptions of SFSCs. The analysis revealed three key themes in consumer perceptions of SFSCs on Twitter: direct …

Keeping Up With… Graduate Student Research Support Models, Giovanna Colosi

Librarian Publications

Graduate education plays a central role in many institutions’ academic missions and revenue models, yet national data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) indicate that enrollment and application patterns have shifted unevenly over the past decade, varying by discipline, credential type, and institutional context. At the same time, the graduate student population is increasingly diverse in modality and life stage, with more students enrolling part time, studying online or in hybrid formats, and returning mid-career. These changes present significant implications for academic and research libraries, particularly as graduate students’ research needs remain intensive while their schedules and pathways grow …

Lanthorn, Vol. 60, No. 11, February 9, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 60, August 4, 2025 – April 20, 2026

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Addressing The Pitfalls Of Misinformation In The Classroom Through Game Based Learning, Taylor S. Strong, Jerome Bingham

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

As instruction librarians we must strive to strengthen students' literacy when it comes to research. Only a 3rd of American high school students are graduating with the necessary reading and math skills needed for college-level classes. In conjunction with these low reading levels.The current and incoming students are a part of the Gen-Z or Zoomer generation.One of the largest problems Gen Z students face in their daily lives is combating misinformation. The University of Virginia in conjunction with the University of Cambridge conducted a recent study about generations and misinformation. Only 11% of 18 to 29 year olds earned a …

Leveling Up: Introducing High School Students To The College Library, Lisa Nichols, Helen E. Bischoff

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

For many high school students, visiting a college campus can inspire future aspirations and reduce anxiety by allowing them to visualize themselves as college students. This presentation highlights our experiences as academic librarians collaborating with local high school teachers and librarians to introduce students to the foundations of academic research and critical inquiry while also exposing them to both the college library and the campus environment. Through interactive workshops held on site in the high school library and then on a college campus in an academic library, students had the opportunity to engage with college-level research tools, explore the academic …

A Proposal For An Information Literacy Evaluation Plan For First-Year Writing (Fyw) Courses, Mohammed Z. Reza

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

It is very common for academic libraries to offer information literacy programs for first-year writing students. These programs have several goals and aim to equip students with information literacy skills, including evaluating and reflecting, interpreting, seeking, inquiring, and managing information. The primary goal of program evaluation is to drive improvement. (Fitzpatrick et al., 2011). Fitzpatrick et al. (2011) also noted that evaluation serves many purposes, including determining a program's merit or worth, supporting decision-making, organizing a program, and improving a program.

As an instruction librarian, I taught information literacy sessions for first-year writing students in the English department at both …

Best Practices In Virginia School Libraries, Audrey P. Church, Karla B. Collins, Carl A. Harvey Ii, Sheree Garrett

Learning Hub

The National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries (AASL, 2018b) indicate that school librarians should function as teachers, instructional partners, information specialists, leaders, and program administrators, and numerous studies document the important role that the school librarian plays in the teaching and learning taking place in the school (Lance & Kachel, 2018). Strong school librarians positively impact student learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify, explore, and describe traits and activities of award-winning school librarians in Virginia. Data collected from 18 participants through semi- structured interviews identified the common traits of leader, communicator, …

Practicing Archival Sustainability Through Degrowth, Hannah Pryor

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

As archives continue to face threats from global climate disasters and increased institutional pressure to accomplish more with fewer resources, there is a need to evolve archival practice through a sustainability lens. While archival literature has frequently discussed sustainability practices such as eco-friendly building standards, how to reduce energy consumption, and other green initiatives, less focus has been placed on the underlying structures of unsustainability. This article proposes degrowth as one framework for considering archival sustainability. Degrowth is an ecological, economic, and political theory that advocates for the deliberate reduction of activities that rely on non-renewable resources. This article draws …

The Information Edge - Library Newsletter - February 2026, Sarah Burns-Feyl, Jennifer Rosenstein

University Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Georgia Library Spotlight Sir Elton John’S Gift To Emory University’S Library, Lily Brickmeier

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Task Intensive Virtual Circulation Management To Meet Rising Patron Demand: Analyzing Ebook And Eaudiobook Acquisition Workflows In Fulton County Libraries, Elizabeth F. Keathley, Stephanie Galipeau

Georgia Library Quarterly

Managing eBook hold times while adhering to budget constraints is a critical challenge for public libraries. In a budgetary landscape where models of licensing and cost are in constant flux, this article offers a snapshot in time of strategies employed by the Fulton County Library System (FCLS) in Atlanta, Georgia, during Spring and Summer 2024. Librarians deployed a multi-pronged approach of daily carts in OverDrive, daily monitoring and response to patron holds and recommendations, daily updates of OverDrive records and bi-weekly updates of Hoopla records to meet patron demand. Documenting strategies like these is crucial for collection management professionals adapting …

Book Review: Peach Pit Corazón: A Judith Ortiz Cofer Reader, Thomas C. Weeks Ii

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

February 2026 Library & Learning Newsletter, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Library & Learning Dean’S Office Communications Team

Library & Learning Newsletters

PDF version of the February 2026 (Volume 4, Issue 7) Library & Learning Newsletter.

Adaptive Multi-Agent Intelligence: A Dynamic Data Management System For Enhanced Data Quality And Reconciliation, Anthony Taeyang Vigil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizations struggle with data quality problems that cost them millions of dollars annually. Manual data cleanup and standardizing, also known as reconciliation, can take skilled analysts days to complete and can still contain human errors. This dissertation addresses this challenge by developing and validating the Origin Data Management System, which automates processes that traditionally require days of manual work. The system achieved up to 100% accuracy in standardizing vendor names and identifying CEO information across real-world test datasets from Jefferson County Public Schools, Forbes, and Fortune Magazines. Processing time dropped from days to minutes—a 96-fold improvement over manual methods. These …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2025 - Journal Requests (Controlled) By Title, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests (Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 850,324

Unique Item Requests - 628,581

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Dr_D1 Report Fy2025 - Database Search And Item Usage, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / R5.1 Report DR_D1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The DR_D1 report is defined as "Database Search and Item Usage." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Searches Automated - 38,089

Searches Federated - 1,810

Searches Regular - 1,304,882

Total Item Investigations - 933,864

Total Item Requests - 286,912

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Ir_M1 Report Fy2025 - Multimedia Item Requests, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report IR_M1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The IR_M1 report is defined as "Multimedia Item Requests." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 3,357

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Pr_P1 Report Fy2025 - Platform Usage, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report PR_P1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The PR_P1 report is defined as "Platform Usage." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Searches Platform - 294,352

Total Item Requests - 1,451,061

Unique Item Requests - 1,078,034

Unique Title Requests - 55,776

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2025 - Book Requests Controlled) By Title, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 194,197

Unique Title Requests - 60,001

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_B1 Report Fy2025 - Book Requests (Controlled) By Platform, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_B1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_B1 report is defined as "Book Requests Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 194,197

Unique Title Requests - 60,001

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R5 Tr_J1 Report Fy2025 - Journal Requests Controlled) By Platform, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R5 / 5.1 Report TR_J1 for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. The TR_J1 report is defined as "Journal Requests Controlled)." This report presents an annual total only and only includes those platforms successfully configured for automated harvesting via SUSHI.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results:

Total Item Requests - 850,324

Unique Item Requests - 628,581

An Ai Tool Recreates Some Of The Friction Of Academic Search. Is That Actually Helpful?, Jasmine S. Kirby

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Keenious mitigates some of the educational risks of AI search. But its limitations will frustrate some users.

Paywall Payout: A Three Year Review Of The Soml Open Article Fund, Aidy Weeks

Library Faculty Research

In 2022, the School of Medicine Library launched the Open Article Fund as a way to support faculty, residents, and fellows with their scholarly activities when submitting open access publications that would otherwise be ineligible for funding through the University Libraries fund which limited recipients to tenure-track faculty. After feedback from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine Office of Research, The pilot fund was structured after the University Libraries funds with some modifications including awarding $2,000 instead of $1500 towards a publication, allowing for publications in hybrid journals, and requiring multi-author team submissions. The fund was initially supported by $30,000 …

Urgent Expertise, Explored Together: A Scholarly Communication Peer-Mentoring Group, Alex Crowley, Lily Susman, Rosemary Farrell, Michael Kahn, Caroline Jedlicka, Eric Silberberg, Michelle Ehrenpreis, Marta Bladek, Jill Cirasella

Urban Library Journal

In Spring 2025, the authors participated in a structured peer-mentoring program designed to deepen their knowledge of scholarly communication topics and issues. In this article, based on our panel at the 2025 LACUNY Institute, we share our perspectives on the program and discuss how current events are making scholarly communication expertise more essential than ever.

Using What We’Ve Got: Activating Institutional Archives In Uncertain Times, Dorian Onifer, Iris Finkel

Urban Library Journal

Activating institutional archives can provide rich opportunities for original research, the development of multiple literacies, and cultivating a sense of student belonging. This proceedings paper outlines a place-based, primary source research project presented at the 2025 LACUNY Institute. Implemented in a 100-level Library Research course, the project utilized historical yearbooks from our institutional archives to investigate the undergraduate experiences of notable alumni. The replicable design of the project allows for adaptation across disciplines and institutions, offering a flexible model for integrating archival pedagogy and primary source literacy into a broad range of disciplines.

Reviewing Crowdsourcing And Community Engagement In Museums, Paul Longley Arthur, Lydia Hearn, Isabel Smith

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Over the past two decades, museums have increasingly experimented with digital technologies to connect with broader contemporary culture. This review article investigates the role crowdsourcing can play in transforming museums into more engaged environments, raising visibility and inclusivity, and involving diverse voices and populations in knowledge-creation processes. Its contribution is to provide an overview of the history, definitions and concepts of crowdsourcing, and examples of crowdsourcing policies and practices that have been adopted by museums. Participation in crowdsourcing has been influenced by gender, education, and socio-economic and cultural background. In the past, historical structures and traditions and infrastructural complexities have …

Copley Library Impact Report 2024-2025, Helen K. And James S. Copley Library, University Of San Diego

Copley Library Annual Reports

Deans; The 2024-2025 Retreat: Supporting Neurodiverse College Students in Academic Libraries; Faculty; Jennifer Bidwell; Alma Ortega; Laura Turner; Catherine Paolillo; Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Literacy Instruction; Library Faculty Serve on National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant-Funded Research Team; From Pilot to Signed MOU: the State Commission for Human Rights of Baja California (CEDH-BC) and USD Copley Library Human Rights Cases Digitization Project; Hidden Poisons in the Stacks: Special Collections Investigates; The Journey of a Collection: Honoring the Legacy of Fr. Mike Blastic; Where Are They Now?; Copley Library Student Employees FY2024–2025; Student Awards; Celebrating Sister Virginia (Gina) Rodee on Her …