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With the globalization of education and immigration, international students have become a large population group at universities in the United States. However, language issues, adjusting to a new educational system, and culture shock are still big challenges for most international students. As a former international student majoring in Library and Information Science, the author deeply understands the difficulties that these students go through to achieve academic success in the United States. Therefore, when the author began working as the Liaison Librarian for International Students at the University of South Alabama in 2014, her first goal was to develop a relationship with related departments on campus to provide library services for these students. This chapter will provide a glimpse of the library outreach program created especially for international students at the University of South Alabama. This chapter will also share the author’s professional experiences reaching out to different groups of international students and creating long-term collaborative working relationships with related departments on campus. The goal is to enable universities to create a welcoming library environment and provide services to support the academic success of all students.

To examine the use of student workers in libraries, and to outline how a student worker training program can be designed and implemented. A review of published works (1978–2014), which aims to provide information on training and using student workers for more advanced tasks. A description of the history of student workers in the reference department of the Earl K. Long Library, along with a detailed account of the training used to transform the Student Reference Assistant positions. Finally, a survey sent electronically to all Louisiana academic libraries to gather information on how other libraries use student workers. Many libraries rely on student workers for staff-level tasks. Libraries can use student workers to fill in staffing gaps, to a certain extent, as long as a proper training program is implemented. Research was limited to Louisiana academic libraries, so it is not a comprehensive view of student workers throughout the country. While there were a good number of respondents, the survey was not answered by representatives of each Louisiana academic library. A broader study of how student workers are used in libraries should be conducted in the future. Many libraries still rely on staff to do everything. This chapter will provide libraries with options for using student workers in more advanced ways. It also offers key guidelines to follow when forming a training program. Most research in this area focuses on training or assessing student workers and not on finding ways to use them to fill in staffing gaps.

This chapter explores how a perpetual beta mentality allows public services spaces and staffing to be more flexible, responsive, and dynamic to meet the needs of a university community. In one library’s experience, this led to a redeveloped Student Assistant Program which made better use of student employee time and prompted the authors to begin exploring the impact of library employment on the future work life of student employees. Through various data collection metrics, pilot project testing, and staged implementation, public services have expanded and become more adaptable. This approach included collecting usage pattern statistics, focus groups, and surveys. A perpetual beta mindset and career-oriented work for student employees makes for more responsive public services. The sample size for each focus group was small, but spanned a broad range of student stakeholders. Because perpetual beta allows for constant change, it can be hard to compare data between iterations. Libraries should make employment more meaningful to student assistants and their future careers. This chapter further explores the current research of library employment for student assistants and begins to track their perceptions of said impact after graduation.

School library media specialists (SLMSs) often struggle with assuming leadership roles. Discrepancies existed in perceptions of SLMSs of their leadership preparedness, their opportunities to exert leadership, and their assumption of leadership roles. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the perceptions of SLMSs regarding their instructional leadership and to examine the extent to which they practiced instructional leadership. The study was designed to determine whether there were differences between SLMSs perceptions of the importance of their leadership roles and their opportunities to practice those roles. The results of the study indicated that SLMSs perceived all of the leadership roles to be more important than they were able to carry out in practice and that supportive administrators were the most essential factor in providing SLMSs the opportunity to practice and expand their roles as instructional leaders.

This chapter explores the provision of library services to children residing in juvenile justice facilities. The small body of scholarly literature published on the topic over the last 50 years is examined, followed by a description of the findings of a recent Australian survey of juvenile justice library provision in that country. Australia presents a very poor example of the provision of library services to children living in correctional detention. A contrast to the Australian context is provided through a case study of the library service to the South Carolina Birchwood School, in the United States. Housed in the South Carolina Juvenile Justice Centre, the Birchwood School library is presented as an example of better practice and an illustration of what can be achieved by a juvenile justice facility library when it is sufficiently staffed and funded. Opportunities for further research are identified and conclusions are drawn regarding the need for libraries in juvenile justice facilities.

When a new student enrolls in his/her first class, the ELRC emails a welcome letter outlining the services and resources available to NCU students. The welcome letter includes information on how to access the virtual library site and how to contact a reference librarian. A new student receives the link to the ELRC after establishing a user name and password. The ELRC produces a Learning Resources Handbook, available on the website or in hardcopy upon request. The manual outlines policies and procedures, and introduces resources available through the ELRC. The website provides research tips and how-to pages on database use, Internet searching, research guides, links to online catalogs, general reference tools, Dissertation Center, and FAQs. Additional online tutorials cover study skills and information for students new to the Internet. The Dissertation Center includes strategies on dissertation research, formatting guides, writing resources, dissertation tutorials, and links to other dissertation resources. Course-related subject guides provide links to resources of interest to those enrolled in a particular course. Mentors or students may suggest sites through “Add-a-Resource,” an online form. Learner Affairs and the ELRC provide step-by-step orientation to the web site via telephone to students requesting assistance.

This qualitative case study explored the information literacy acquisition of 23 students enrolled in a learning community consisting of an advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) writing class and a one-unit class introducing students to research at a suburban community college library in California. As there are no other known learning communities that link an ESL course to a library course, this site afforded a unique opportunity to understand the ways in which ESL students learn to conduct library research. Students encountered difficulties finding, evaluating, and using information for their ESL assignments. Strategies that the students, their ESL instructor, and their instructional librarian crafted in response were enabled by the learning community structure. These strategies included integration of the two courses’ curricula, contextualized learning activities, and dialogue. ESL students in this study simultaneously discovered new language forms, new texts, new ideas, and new research practices, in large part because of the relationships that developed over time among the students, instructor, and instructional librarian. Given the increasing number of ESL students in higher education and the growing concern about their academic success, this study attempts to fill a gap in the research literature on ESL students’ information literacy acquisition.

Undergraduate information commons have become pervasive in the academic library landscape. In recent years, librarians and administrators have come to identify the need for comparable commons’ spaces and services for graduate students. This chapter serves as a review of recently developed models of graduate commons—in this discussion referred to as Scholars’ Commons—as defined by an integration of physical learning spaces, personnel, and a dynamic availability of research support services that support assist graduate students throughout their academic life cycle. These provisions serve as the foundation for the development of enhanced library-supported graduate student success.

Still a rare commodity, existing models from selected institutional web sites were examined using a framework for analysis consisting of several criteria: new use of space; segmented services; partnerships; and new organizational structures. Through a synthesis of the commonalities prevalent in these systems, this chapter aims to provide recommendations for prospective Scholars’ Commons models and proposals for their development. Library organizations contemplating the development of a Scholars’ Commons need to consider the needs of their target population, potential new or reallocated spaces, feasibility of providing support and research technologies, and possible staffing models. As well, the authors consider the importance of library-based graduate student support that bolsters cross-divisional collaborative partnerships across the academy.

Purpose – The United States has and will continue to experience increasing levels of diversity in all segments of the population. To address the information needs of diverse students, it is important for school library certification programs to offer a curriculum that addresses such topics as the role of culturally competent library service for diverse K-12 student patrons as well as teaching future school librarians how to provide services and programs that include all members of the school community, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students.

Design – We use a combination of a literature review, an explanation of the tenets of cultural competence, and relevant descriptions of experiences of LGBT youth to generate practical solutions for transforming the curriculum and culture in Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) programs with the goal of better serving LGBT patrons in secondary schools.

Findings – Twelve specific solutions were identified that focus on transforming the curricular and cultural landscape of MLIS programs as they relate to promoting diversity and inclusivity in preparing school librarians to serve LGBT students.

Value – The chapter ultimately emphasizes the unfortunate outcome resulting from MLIS programs failing to prepare school librarians who are aware of the importance of embracing and demonstrating culturally competent and inclusive services for LGBT students. It also shares strategies for improving curricular practices that affect the culture of MLIS programs and, by extension, the atmosphere in school library programs.