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For the Republic of Ireland, as for most European countries, the period since the Second World War has been one of growth and expansion in higher education. This has resulted partly from a growing population of young people and partly from the demand for trained manpower in response to increasing industrialisation and technological change. Total enrolment in all sectors of higher education trebled from 15,000 in 1950 to more than 45,000 in 1983, and during the same period the number of students in the universities rose from 8,000 to 27,000. The rapid increase in enrolments led to the appointment of a Commission on Higher Education which reported in 1967. Many of its recommendations have been overtaken by subsequent developments, but two central themes were that increased state investment in higher education was a precondition of social and economic progress, and that the growing demand for higher education was so large and so diverse that new institutions should be established to cope with it. Accordingly, in addition to expansion in virtually all the existing universities and colleges, two new national institutes of higher education have been established since 1970, together with nine regional technical colleges, in which the emphasis is on courses in the applied sciences and technological and business studies. As far as state investment in higher education is concerned, around 80% of the financial provision for almost all the institutions is derived from state funds. The distribution of these funds to the universities and national institutes of higher education is one of the functions of the Higher Education Authority, a body established in 1968 on the recommendation of the Commission, and whose other functions include the continuous review of the need for and provision of higher education, and the coordination of financial planning and development.

Using bibliometrics to examine eight core journals in the year 2000 for the disciplines of higher education and library science, characteristics of the authors were determined, including gender or sex; Carnegie Classification or institutional affiliation; and position of the authors. Characteristics of the articles were also examined, including the research methods used such as descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, or qualitative analysis. A content analysis of each article was performed to determine the subjects discussed in each literature. For both disciplines, it was learned that males publish more, the highest Carnegie Classification, extensive research institutions, were represented the most, and authors came from academic departments other than their own disciplines. In higher education, inferential statistics were used frequently; in library and information descriptive statistics were used frequently; both disciplines failed to use research methodologies regularly. From these findings, it appears that both disciplines are still emerging and are in their early stages of development.

This paper presents recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2020.

The paper provides a brief description of all 440 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested in a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

This chapter theorizes academic libraries and library workers as partners in social justice work in higher education, linking the core concerns of critical librarianship (or Critlib) to library leadership practices that can enable and facilitate widening participation as a political project. ¹ Widening participation, as a policy imperative and higher education practice, attempts to improve access to higher education among underrepresented groups. However, rooted in the logic of marketized, neoliberal higher education, liberal approaches to widening participation are instrumentalist and contribute to a cultural discourse which reproduces inequity and unequal educational outcomes.

Drawing on Nancy Fraser's model of social justice and critical sociology of education, particularly the work of Penny Jane Burke and Diane Reay, this chapter develops a critical theory of library leadership which radically reframes widening participation practice as a project of recognition and inclusion. In connecting the rich scholarship of Critlib movement, particularly critical information literacy and library pedagogies, to shared commitments to social justice between library and other education workers, this chapter deepens our theoretical understanding of libraries' contributions to widening participation.

The purpose of this paper is to study the use of Koha integrated library system by higher education institutions in Malawi.

The study made use of the diffusion of innovation theory as an anchoring model. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire that was administered to library managers of higher education institutions registered with the National Council for Higher Education in Malawi. The data collected were analyzed using SPPS version 21 to generate descriptive statistics.

The findings revealed that 84.2 per cent of libraries in higher education institutions in Malawi are automated, and 81.3 per cent of them are using Koha ILS and the rest were using proprietary and other open source software. Cost and technical aspects have been discovered to be the primary factors that have assisted in the rapid diffusion of Koha. The study also exposed some factors that negatively impacted the use of Koha in the adopting institutions. The main ones included lack of information and communication technology infrastructure, unreliable Internet connectivity and limited finances.

Previously, some small-scale case studies have been performed to examine implementation of Koha in some higher education institutions in Malawi. However, this is the first large-scale attempt to investigate use of Koha among higher education institutions in the country. Findings that have shown that Koha can be installed easily and used at minimal cost could assist in its rapid adoption in the higher education institutions, a majority of whom face a myriad of financial challenges.

The entire higher education legislation in Finland has been overhauled with effect from the beginning of 2010. The aim of the restructuring of higher education is to enhance teaching and research quality and increase effectiveness through a streamlined network of institutions coupled with stronger institutional profiling and priorities. University and polytechnic libraries form a key infrastructure in teaching and research, so it is vital for the development of higher education to ensure their operational quality. This paper seeks to describe the results of the work of a committee that was given the job of making recommendations on the successful implementation of the new legislation, especially from the point of view of library and information services.

The paper takes the form of a case study.

The committee suggests an efficient network of local libraries tied in with centralized services, as well as sound funding and legislation that will help fulfill the libraries' main tasks when building digital services for students and academics.

The paper is based on experience in Finland.

The paper gives examples of the action needed in restructuring the library network for the digital age.

The paper provides a model for national cooperation between centralized services and libraries at institutes of higher education.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.

The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper examines the processes of evaluating the quality of two library and information services for health professionals in the UK: higher education (HE) health library and information services and those of the National Health Service (NHS). Both are principally serving the same user group – clinicians at various stages in their professional lives. Health professionals need access to services from libraries in both sectors for their initial pre‐qualification course. The concept of life‐long learning has strengthened the need for clinicians to be able to locate relevant information when and where they need it. This need for dual access is continued after becoming qualified when they undertake continuing professional development, complete research, deliver evidence‐based care and help patients with their information needs. Despite NHS and HE health libraries serving the same user group there are many differences between libraries in the two sectors. The level of difference is discussed, demonstrating that the quality processes are often diametrically opposed.

This paper presents recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy. It provides an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering various library types, study populations and research contexts. The selected bibliography is useful to efficiently keep up with trends in library instruction for busy practitioners, library science students and those wishing to learn about information literacy in other contexts.

This article annotates 424 English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, theses and reports on library instruction and information literacy published in 2021. The sources were selected from the EBSCO platform for Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts (LISTA), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Scopus, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, and WorldCat, published in 2021 that included the terms “information literacy,” “library instruction,” or “information fluency” in the title, abstract or keywords. The sources were organized in Zotero. Annotations summarize the source, focusing on the findings or implications. Each source was categorized into one of seven pre-determined categories: K-12 Education, Children and Adolescents; Academic and Professional Programs; Everyday Life, Community, and the Workplace; Libraries and Health Information Literacy; Multiple Library Types; and Other Information Literacy Research and Theory.

The paper provides a brief description of 424 sources and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians, researchers and anyone interested as a quick and comprehensive reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy within 2021.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2018.

The paper provides a brief description of all 422 sources, and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

The information may be used by librarians and anyone interested as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.