The elimination of the library faculty at Western Illinois University shocked the library world. But if libraries at other small- and medium-sized institutions want to avoid a similar fate, it will require a radical departure from business as usual.
When circumstances are unpredictable, it can be tempting to avoid identifying career goals. Here’s how librarians can continue to imagine their professional futures.
Read or watch Lauren Collister’s interview with the Data Rescue Project’s Lynda Kellam, who discusses the effort to preserve government data and the special role librarians and archivists have to play.
Retention issues—driven, among other factors, by staff dissatisfaction and burnout—are a key concern in public library systems. To solve the problem, we first need to close the leadership competency gap.
For libraries that depend on international vendors to supply books, serials, and media, the effects of tariffs could be significant. Here’s how we can chart a path forward.
In the aftermath of the Trump administration’s executive order attempting to eliminate the IMLS, and as librarians across the country receive notices cancelling their IMLS grant funding, IMLS Matters is collecting testimony from librarians about the impact of the IMLS’s work. Here are some of their stories.
Leo Lo, dean of the College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico, reflects on his unconventional career path and lessons he’s learned along the way.
Katina Strauch’s memoir, Doing the Charleston, which will be published this week, tells the story of her career in librarianship alongside the history of the Charleston Conference, which she founded in 1980. In this excerpt, she looks ahead to the future of libraries. As Katina puts it, many will disagree, and that’s okay!
Clarivate’s “transformative subscription-based strategy” caught the library world flat-footed. How did this happen? And where do we go from here?
To survive in the face of disruptive change, libraries must balance operational excellence with innovation. The “Innovation-Operations Perpetual Motion Engine” is how one library achieves this goal.
Our library conducted an talent audit to catalogue staff competencies, laying a foundation for professional development and teamwork.
A candidate for president of the American Library Association makes the case that a strong ALA is the most powerful tool library workers have in the face of broad challenges and threats.
AI is already transforming research libraries. But how can we plan for the future when the landscape is evolving so rapidly? This scenario-planning exercise helped us see our way forward.
When I heard Katina Strauch speak for the first time, I wasn’t expecting to find we had so much in common, or that she’d be an inspiration to people like me. Here are ten things I learned about Katina that unexpectedly made me feel seen.
Academic libraries were originally created to support the research and teaching/learning needs of faculty and students. But they are also uniquely well-suited to help humanity achieve sustainable solutions to its economic, social, and environmental challenges.
Futures thinking is a tool that empowers individuals to shape their careers strategically and organizations to innovate, adapt, and lead. Here’s how to try it.
Being a lawyer and a parent made me a better librarian
Public librarians have the skills they need to transition to academic roles. But they must brand their expertise for an academic audience.
I arrived at the library without credentials and left with a vital set of skills. If library leaders can meet the evolving needs of the library workforce, they will be preparing information professionals to thrive across knowledge-generating career fields.
