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The employees working the front desk are the ones who face the parent angry about a book’s content, the delegate of a group challenging the library’s right to select and shelve titles as it sees fit, or the media looking for an impromptu comment.

At a time when the cost of higher education is rising and so are questions about its value, libraries can lead the way in enabling student success and helping students get the most out of college. To do this, college and university libraries must continue their transformation from places to access information to places to also create, connect, and grow.

As frontline public library workers experience increasing levels of trauma on the job, a recent report and forum consider how to help disrupt the cycle.

Texas A&M University restructured its University Libraries’ administrative system, including rescinding tenure—and eliminating the tenure process—for librarians. As of the fall semester, library faculty will be required to either give up their tenured status to remain full-time library staff members, or transfer to another academic department to keep or continue to pursue tenure, and teach credit-bearing courses with between 10 and 70 percent service in the libraries.

Ransomware attacks are on the rise, and several libraries have been hit by opportunistic criminals.

At the end of February Steven Potter, CEO and director of Mid Continent Public Library (MCPL), Kansas City, MO, announced his plans to retire after 34 years with the library—12 of them as director—effective June 30. LJ caught up with him shortly before the PLA Conference to talk about his tenure at MCPL and his plans on retirement (spoiler alert: nothing).

Library workers are facing burnout in greater numbers and severity—and grappling with it as a systemic problem.

Mirroring trends in the national workforce, workers at more public and academic libraries unionized in 2021.

It remains to be seen whether governments that relaxed or eliminated their mask mandates will move as quickly and decisively to put them back in place. But libraries shouldn’t wait for them to do so.