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The purpose of this paper is to present the learning gained from undertaking research activities in co-production with young people in order to tackle alcohol misuse in local communities.

The findings are drawn from an evaluation of an alcohol misuse change programme in which opportunities to learn about and conduct research were provided to young people through co-production. The evaluation was guided by a theory of change, and a portfolio of evidence collected which included feedback from the young people and project staff about their experiences.

This paper demonstrates that young people can be empowered to take on roles as agents of change in their own communities by learning more about research processes. However, the empowerment does not come from undertaking research training per se, but by being able to work co-productively with researchers on issues and questions that are of direct relevance to themselves and which are framed within a change agenda. Shared values, strong relationships and reciprocal knowledge exchange enabling flexible and relevant responses to real-world problems and questions are needed.

The paper suggests a reflexive and co-productive learning, design and delivery approach to involving young people in research. It challenges notions of young people as a problem in terms of alcohol misuse, and rather situates them as part of a solution that is aiming at longer-term transformational community change. This is significant in that much of the existing evidence concentrates on individual intervention.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from an evaluation of an intervention (Moving Parents and Children Together (M-PACT+)) aiming to address the effects of parental substance misuse (PSM) in school settings. The paper considers the evidence of effectiveness, and goes on to explore how schools were involved with the intervention.

A theory of change was developed for the intervention, which identified key steps of change that were expected for the beneficiaries (family members and children). Mixed methods were then used to form a portfolio of data to support or refute the theory. The data included quantitative validated scale data and questionnaires at various points in time with staff, and participants (including children), and qualitative data obtained from school staff, intervention staff, families and children.

This paper concludes that the evidence supports the theory that providing M-PACT+ in school settings can begin to address the effects of PSM for the families that engage with it. Further, the paper shows that the ethos of the schools involved influences how families are identified and referred, and that interventions of this kind are most likely to succeed where they are integrated into an ethos where there is a shared responsibility for a broad child well-being agenda between schools and other community agencies.

This paper explores the evaluation of a unique family intervention. The findings will be of value to those seeking to implement such interventions in partnership with schools and/or community agencies.

At an academic digital library of a graduate business school in Berlin, Germany, the librarian reflects on the “new normal” following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its increased faculty and student engagement with digital resources and heightened awareness of and activity in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

This paper details the concepts and practices of an academic library that is a center for information resources and services, as well as a contact point for DEI advocacy and student conflict mediation. The librarian is the only information professional at the school, and this is a reflective essay written from her perspective.

This case study suggests that a librarian cross-trained as a conflict mediator or coach can offer both information literacy and support services to further the development of an inclusive campus environment. Educators in both roles build students’ competence and confidence, focus on their achievements and progress and contribute to their sense of belonging. Combining these activities in a central institution builds on the strengths of both disciplines and is consistent with inclusion as a core principle of librarianship.

The findings will be useful for librarians wishing to expand their existing mandate to provide inclusive information access and services to include DEI initiatives.

In this article, we demonstrate how a tourist destination can transform itself into a tourism‐based transnational community. Inspired from two case studies, the Britons in Spain and the Quebecers in Florida, we propose a three‐phase model to explore the process the “touristification” of a transnational community. These phases are: the adoption of a tourist destination, the transformation of this destination into a tourism‐based transnational community, and the decline of the latter.

Information technology in New Mexico has not yet become an integral part of education, government, or library functions. In recent years, however, diverse local and regional efforts have started to come together, and significant planning and implementation activities are being undertaken, funded by the state as well as local and regional entities. With all connectivity initiatives, there is a focus on partnerships and a concern about shared infrastructure. Libraries have taken the path of host‐to‐host connectivity instead of developing a centralized system with a statewide catalog supported by mainframe. Statewide library networking has been and continues to be largely based on local initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changing role of the academic library, in relation to technology support services. It proposes that library technology services should expand to take a central role in developing student academic technology skills, and shows how moving into non-traditional areas of technology support can expand a library’s operation capabilities to include entrepreneurship and innovation for faculty, staff and students.

The paper outlines how our library expanded its technology services to include course management support, technical literacy training and three-dimensional (3D) printing, and details future developments into robotics and software development. It details the authors initial objectives, the issues encountered, the improvements made in response and what the authors hope to do in the future.

We are at a time when technology has made innovation and creation available to many. Academic libraries should take on this opportunity of repositioning technology services to provide and promote technical applications, becoming a central point for library users to share ideas and collaborate on projects. As a result of the interdisciplinary nature of academic libraries, the authors are in the best position to make this happen on campus.

Even though continual change has been a theme in the development of libraries, very little has been written on the role of technology support services. This paper sets the foundation for further exploration in how taking on academic technology support services, 3D printing and makerspaces could be a part of library services.

In the male-dominant creative industries, do men and women have access to the same resources for career learning and development? The purpose of this paper is to examine women’s perspectives of their career trajectories in advertising creative departments.

Situated learning theory views learning as produced through interaction with and increasing participation in a community of practice. Interviews were conducted with 19 female creatives to examine two research questions: first, how do women develop identities as creative practitioners within the male dominated advertising creative department? and second, how are women’s learning trajectories influenced by their gender?

Gendered expectations affected the type of work women were supposed to produce, their ability to sell work, and the types of assignments they received. Women lacked legitimacy and experienced difficulties developing an identity as a master practitioner. They instead emphasized parts of their identity unrelated to the profession.

Women were unable to develop identities as full members of the community of practice. The identity formed in conjunction with work was that of a person with lesser talents, fewer opportunities, and less valued contributions, causing them to exit the field or seek positive identity from places other than work.

This study was the first study that the authors are aware of to examine empirically the relationship between situated learning theory and gender. It provided evidence from women’s perspectives that gender restricted access to material for forming a positive work-identity, which impeded learning as women realized and accepted they were on a different trajectory than similarly-situated males.

The purpose of this paper is to describe Karen refugee women’s experience of resettlement and the factors which structured community capacity to support their mental health and well-being.

A postcolonial and feminist standpoint was used to bring Karen women’s voice to the knowledge production process. Data were collected through ethnographic field observation, in-depth semi-structured individual and focus group interviews with Karen women as well as healthcare and social service providers.

Three interrelated themes emerged from the data: Karen women’s construction of mental health as “stress and worry”; gender, language and health literacy intersected, shaping Karen women’s access to health care and social resources; flexible partnerships between settlement agencies, primary care and public health promoted community capacity but were challenged by neoliberalism.

Karen women and families are a diverse group with a unique historical context. Not all the findings are applicable across refugee women.

This paper highlights the social determinants of mental health for Karen women and community responses for mitigating psychological distress during resettlement.

Public health policy requires a contextualized understanding of refugee women’s mental health. Health promotion in resettlement must include culturally safe provision of health care to mitigate sources of psychological distress during resettlement.

This research brings a postcolonial and feminist analysis to community capacity as a public health strategy.

In September 2014, 1,200 unaccompanied immigrant youth, from a region of Central America known for high rates of violence and homicide, enrolled in a suburban school district of New York State. This paper aims to highlight the stories of the newly arrived Central American high school youth, as told through Bilingual (Spanish/English) digital testimonios completed in the English Language Arts classroom. The author examines how the telling of their stories of surviving migration offers a way for the youth to respond to political and emotional struggles. The author also explores how the youth become active participants in the telling of political narratives/testimonios.

Part of a larger ethnographic case study, the author adopts the ethnographic approaches of the new literacy studies. Testimonios as a research epistemology privilege the youth’s narratives as sources of knowledge, and allow the youth to reclaim their authority in telling their own stories.

The integration of critical digital texts into the English Language Arts classroom created a participatory classroom culture where the Central American youth’s digital testimonios can be seen as a shared history of struggles that make visible the physical toil of their journeys, the truth of their border crossings and their enactments of political identities. As a collective, the youth’s stories become part of national and global political dialogues.

At a time when immigrant youth struggle for rights, to further their education and to negotiate the daily experiences of living in a new country, this research offers a unique perspective on the politics of inclusion and exclusion for unaccompanied youth.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of fostering a maker culture in a liberal arts university. It explores the impact of making on student learning and engagement, as well as the role of the library’s maker program.

This paper is a case study that presents the tools and activities used in an academic library’s maker program. Structured interviews were conducted with faculty, staff and students to review the program and maker culture influence on campus.

Findings highlight the library’s role in supporting maker culture on a liberal arts campus and address ways making contributes to student engagement and learning. Interviewees also recommend strategies to increase awareness and market the library’s maker program to engage a wider community.

Though there are many articles written about the maker movement and libraries, this study contributes to the growing body of research on makerspaces in higher education, with particular focus on a library at a liberal arts university.