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This user-friendly resource, a collaboration between Adam Matthew Digital and Sage Research Methods, is designed to introduce undergraduate students to research methodologies and primary sources. Although aimed primarily at undergraduate students, graduate students new to their field or needing a refresher will also find it useful. Overall, this is a solid choice for institutions supporting undergraduate research in the arts and humanities.

Best sellers in African history, 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

“Freedom and the Press before Freedom of the Press,” a digital humanities project based at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, has received a $324,931 National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Advancement grant to develop a set of digital tools to analyze type and paper used in late 17th- and 18th-century English language works.

The Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection at the University of Minnesota–St. Paul provides an excellent window into the history of food, cooking, and technology—and some surprises—through cookbooks and other related ephemera.

Barbara Alvarez, while teaching at three iSchools, focuses on building community partnerships for health. To investigate the pandemic’s impact on abortion services for Wisconsin residents, Alvarez conducted weekly mystery calls to 29 abortion clinics in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and upper Michigan..

The Outreach Department at High Plains Library District in Erie, CO, was a seven-person department when Brittany Raines became supervisor. Under her leadership, it grew to 25 staff spread out across the entire county and was retitled as MOVE (Mobile, Outreach, Virtual, and Experiences).  

Ninety-one percent of academic librarians believe that analytics improve their understanding of how students, faculty, and researchers engage with their library, and 85 percent believe analytics can help show the library’s value to administrators and help libraries justify budget decisions, according to a recent national survey of 196 academic librarians conducted by LJ in conjunction with EBSCO.

Robin Davis knows that “accessibility isn’t one person’s domain, but everyone’s responsibility.” This shows in the work she does with her colleagues at North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries in the User Experience department and on the recently formed Accessibility Committee, as well as mentoring students. 

Throughout his career, Elisandro Cabada has been closely involved with the creation of tech spaces in libraries, including the design and development of the IDEA Lab, and the Breakerspace digital scholarship and innovation center at the University of Minnesota’s Walter Library. In addition, he is currently developing library services for CI COM—described as the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine—with a focus on "innovative instructional support, scholarly productivity tools, and entrepreneurship."

The collection emphasizes female trailblazers in areas such as pop culture, health care, social work, activism, and more. It is a solid selection for institutions that support advanced research in the humanities, history, gender studies, and other scholarly areas with a focus on women’s lived experiences.

Best sellers in Asian history, 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Keeping up with technology has for decades been a necessary skill in the wheelhouse of librarians. Today’s master’s programs in library and information science are tasked with educating future librarians to meet these challenges—and those of tomorrow.

Library Journal’s recent survey on College Student Library Usage, sponsored by ProQuest, looks at how students in American colleges and universities use their institutions’ libraries, and whether those libraries are meeting students' needs. Most are pleased with the quality of resources provided, and more than three quarters feel the library contributes to their academic success. However, the number of visits, whether in-person or virtual, are hit-and-miss—as many students use the library more than 10 times a semester as never use it at all.

Many college and university libraries have digitized their valuable collections of unique primary source materials to make them available to researchers. However, these collections can be hard to find. To solve this problem, the not-for-profit organization ITHAKA has opened up JSTOR—its widely used digital research platform for universities to host their unique collections.

Dieter Cantu knows the power of education. And after having spent three years incarcerated in Texas’s juvenile justice system, he also knows the difficulties teens face getting an education in those systems.

Virginia Cononie is a tireless advocate for libraries. She conceived, compiled, published, and promoted the book Share Your Story, a collection of more than 100 testimonials and photos from library supporters to be sent to lawmakers in the state of South Carolina, illustrating the value of libraries in their communities.

Initially hesitant to pursue librarianship, Lorisia MacLeod realized early in her career that the field would allow her to combine her interests in leadership, information, people, and advocacy—and has found ample opportunity to incorporate them all.

“TikTok feels like a small city in the prairies,” says Jessie Loyer. She uses her @IndigenousLibrarian account to teach more than 28,000 followers about historical trauma, repatriation, and other Indigenous topics—significant in a field where Indigenous people and culture are underrepresented.

As chair of the Oklahoma Library Association’s Technical Services Roundtable, Elizabeth Szkirpan passionately advocates for the rapidly changing technical services profession.

Academic libraries are investing many efforts in supporting student success. Nevertheless, when higher-ed institutions embark on formal student success programs, the library is often on the outside looking in. To become a partner, libraries should consider new services and tools to extend, evaluate, and demonstrate their contribution to student success.

Alma and Primo help Denmark’s largest library consolidate resource management for five key universities, support a network of academic institutions, centralize interlibrary loan for public libraries, and preserve the nation’s heritage for all.

In 2021, the Annenberg School’s Library Archives accessioned the collection of Amy Siskind’s Weekly List website; however, the path to get there was complicated, and the final gift looked quite different from how it was conceived in the initial conversation. 

Best sellers in math, April 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

This second installment in Gale’s “Making of Modern Law” series chronicles additions of the 11 United States appellate courts from 1891 until 1950. The database comprises nearly two million pages of briefs, appendixes, memoranda, petitions, statements, transcripts, and more. A recommended addition to libraries already subscribing to the “Making of Modern Law” series, this is a key resource not only for legal researchers but also for anyone interested in the economic, political, and social issues of the 1900s.

Two years into the pandemic, only flat budgets and price increases seem predictable.

Best sellers in European history, April 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Brandeis decided to move from its previous resource sharing systems to the Rapido platform in order to streamline resource sharing and provide a better experience for both patrons and staff. With Rapido, Brandeis can fulfill requests more quickly and lower costs significantly.

Best sellers in physiology, March 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Ex Libris’ implementation of the Innovative Direct to Inn-Reach (D2IR) APIs has enabled Hope College, a member of the Michigan statewide MelCat network, to streamline its resource sharing workflows and better integrate them within their Alma and Primo interfaces, while also automating previously manually handled processes by MelCat staff.

Update: The fund met its endowment goal of $50,000 by March 31, and will be able to begin awarding scholarships in fall 2023.

In response to a call for increased diversity at the University of Texas (UT) Austin iSchool—and to boost representation and participation among students of color in information sciences fields overall—a group of UT alumni have created an endowed scholarship for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) students. The committee’s goal is to raise a total of $50,000 by March 31 so that it can begin awarding scholarships in fall 2023.

When people think of special collections, few think of a bouquet of flowers that never wilt, working pinhole cameras, or even a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to pull itself off the page. But that’s exactly what the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has in the ever-growing collection of pop-up books housed at its School of Information and Library Science Library. The collection holds over 1,950 pop-up books, most from the 1970s to the present day, with the oldest books dating back to the 1880s.

Best sellers in religion, March 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The rate of scholarly publishing has increased dramatically over the years. At the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Ex Libris Esploro solved a clear need: an automated way to track and share research activities, giving the library a model for taking a central role in research efforts.

Two early adopters of the Ex Libris Library Mobile app, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (BULCO) in France, and the University of Amsterdam Library in the Netherlands, are leveraging their apps to make library resources more readily available and to enhance digital library services.

Best sellers in philosophy, March 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

EBSCO’s Ethnic Diversity Source is a full-text research database covering “the culture, traditions, social treatment and lived experiences of different ethnic groups in America.” Both novice and expert researchers will appreciate the database’s powerful search, user-friendly design, and breadth of content.

Most public libraries feature family-friendly spaces: rooms where young children can play or read quietly, stocked with toys, digital media, or books. Recently, some academic libraries have been inspired to model similar spaces on their college campuses. Seeking to support students who are parents or caregivers, many college libraries are working to create more inclusive spaces with child-friendly resources.

Best sellers in botany and zoology, March 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The British Museum has partnered with digital content vendor Exact Editions to create an accessible digital archive of the British Museum Magazine from the first issue published in 1990 to Winter 2021. Within this excellent resource containing over 100 issues, users will find full-text with ads, announcements, pictures, and complete articles covering archaeology, anthropology, art, culture, and history.

Oxford University Press (OUP) and the University of Oklahoma have agreed a Read & Publish deal. The agreement covers all researchers belonging to the University of Oklahoma, including the main campus in Norman, the Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, as well as OU-Tulsa.

Best sellers in psychology, February 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The famous quotes about librarians, libraries, and all things bookish in our quiz have either featured in renowned novels or have been articulated by influential people throughout history. Think you’ve got what it takes to complete these quotes? Give our quiz a go and tweet us how you did at @OUPLibraries.

There are many ways to showcase special collections: social media, newsletters, and blog posts; online and in-person exhibits; and both physical and digital catalogues and books. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries’ Distinctive Collections has upped the creativity factor with an immersive video game, “A Lab of One’s Own,” that allows players to discover archival materials telling the stories of women from MIT’s history.

Best sellers in environmental science, February 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

In the 21st century, we are faced with news about the global environmental crisis on a regular basis. Rising temperatures, melting polar ice caps, loss of wild life, and deforestation are but a few examples of the coverage we are all too accustomed to. When faced with something with a global all-encompassing impact, it is sometimes difficult not to feel helpless and struggle to see the value individual contributions can have on fighting these challenges.

Academic appointments at University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, New Mexico State, UMass Amherst, and others; New York Library Association has a new Executive Director; Indianapolis Public Library gets a DEI Officer; and more people news for February 21, 2022.

Best sellers in language, February 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The University of Minnesota (UM) has received a $615,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand its Mapping Prejudice program. Mapping Prejudice, a collaboration among geographers, historians, digital humanists, and community activists, works to document and explore racially restrictive covenants—the clauses inserted into property deeds to keep anyone not white from buying or occupying certain pieces of land.

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

Part of Bloomsbury’s Drama Online this new resource builds on the now-complete National Theatre Collection, with 20 new high-quality streaming videos of a variety of theatrical productions from the turn of the 20th century through the contemporary era. For institutions supporting research in theater, literature, and humanities, this is a compelling choice.

Best sellers in chemistry, February 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Open research may be the route to surfacing a definitional framework for the monograph in SHAPE disciplines. Director of Open Access, Academic, at OUP Andy Redman explores why in this blog post:

Best sellers in literary criticism, January 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

We were very pleased to collaborate with each other this fall on the class “Long Strange Trips: The Grateful Dead and American Cultural Change.” This first-year seminar is part of a series of approximately 12 for incoming students designed to help them be successful and thrive at Duke. One of Eric Mlyn’s primary goals for the class, as course instructor, was to expose students to the rich resources of the university, including the personal knowledge of its community members, and to work in the Duke University Archives to learn about the resources of our libraries.

OUP recently launched our latest research report – Addressing the Deepening Digital Divide. It drew on insights gathered from more than 1,500 teachers across 92 countries to explore the impact of the pandemic on the digital divide—the gap between those who have access to devices and connectivity, and those who do not—and its impact on learners.

Best sellers in microbiology, January 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The unique Nashville institution transitioned to Alma for unified resource management, automation and cloud-based services, which improved student, faculty and staff experience.
“Ex Libris solutions helped us broaden the use of technology within the library and provide innovative learning experiences for our students.” Dr. Brandon A. Owens, Sr., Dean of the Library

The Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, is the nation’s first academic center devoted to Black poetry. With the help of a recent $2 million, four-and-a-half-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Center’s collection of spoken word and performance videos—as well as an ongoing conference series, scholarly publications, fellowships, and programs—will receive the necessary support to continue its mission of supporting Black poets in American letters and cultivating poetry appreciation among students of all levels.

Spurred by the current anti-racist and Black Lives Matter movements, several universities have renewed or ignited their passion for addressing the question: How do you accurately and empathetically describe the lives of the enslaved individuals bound to a university or institution of higher learning?

Best sellers in geography, January 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The University Library is an essential partner in teaching and learning, research, and community engagement at CSUSM. Using statistical gathering, various means of assessment, and in-depth studies, the University Library gains insight into its patrons’ needs and evaluates its success in supporting those needs.

Technological and social changes have revolutionized librarianship, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, librarians have become local community leaders on issues like diversity, equity, and the fight against disinformation. 

From family and food to memory and sexuality, Bloomsbury Cultural History covers an expansive list of themes throughout various periods of recorded history. Its versatility and accessibility appeal to a wide audience, making it especially useful to institutions that support the humanities. 

Gale Case Studies complies a number of case studies in each of the three modules which encompass multidisciplinary subjects. The topics covered (LGBTQ+ issues, political extremism, and public health) intersect with a wide variety of studies. Straightforward with helpful functions to create citations and facilitate discussions, this resource is ideal for undergraduates, although it could appeal to the general researcher as well.

Best sellers in music and art, January 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Bloomsbury Publishing purchased ABC-CLIO in December 2021 for $22.9 million, bringing ABC-CLIO’s four imprints and 32 databases into U.K.-based Bloomsbury’s academic and professional division.

Librarians at the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, have created an interdisciplinary guide dedicated to the birds found on their campus. A Catalog of Birds @ The College of St. Scholastica got its start when the college’s former chair of music (Dr. LeAnn House) gave the library a checklist of 97 bird species compiled by a college biology professor and her students from 1978 to 1996. Faculty librarian Brad Snelling has updated the list with an additional 29 species that he has observed on campus since 2005.

Alma has made it possible for Leeds University Library to adapt their services and workflows so that they can operate effectively in an environment that has become increasingly online. It has given staff opportunities to explore new and more effective ways of working.

Alma has provided a different vision of the future of health libraries, allowing the Queensland Health Libraries Network to explore services and functions beyond what they’d previously considered or been able to afford. The unified Alma approach to all library resources opened up the opportunity to add digital objects and create collections not previously considered part of a health library’s role.

For years, libraries have struggled with how to make and lend digital copies of their print materials without violating copyright laws. 

The Booker T. Washington Papers Digital Edition gives access to multiple volumes of the innerworkings an instrumental Black educator and author. Researchers and historians will revel in the richness of this collection. Although, the platform is outdated and difficult to navigate at times, the significance of the information is likely unparalleled.

Ex Libris' goal is to enable libraries to incorporate CDL into their workflows if they choose to do so. CDL allows libraries to cater to patrons with differing needs and gives them the option to borrow books in a way which suits them.

Proving that print reference is alive and well, these backlist titles explore a variety of popular topics. Online resources round out the list.

Best sellers in education, December 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The latest report from Ithaka S+R, “Big Data Infrastructure at the Crossroads,” released December 1, offers critical findings and recommendations on the ways higher ed researchers, scholars, and technicians can partner with university and college librarians to support data research. The report was built from quantitative results and interview transcripts produced by a cohort of librarians at each participating institution.

Best sellers in the topic "history of science," December 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

How does your academic library compare to your peer libraries across North America? What are the emerging trends in today’s academic libraries and what are institutions doing to prepare for tomorrow?

Academic libraries have experienced dramatic changes over the last few decades. With information now just a few clicks away, libraries are transforming from collections of knowledge to modern hubs for supporting teaching, learning, research, and student success.

Best sellers in politics and law, November 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

From open outdoor areas to fantastic and functional fixtures, sustainable systems to study spaces, LJ's 2021 Year in Architecture roundup celebrates the best new construction and renovation in public and academic libraries across the country.

Cleveland performer, activist, and archivist Bella Sin is helping the Ohio State University (OSU) burlesque and exotic dance archives document the burlesque revival that began in the 1990s and is still going strong.

Open research covers a wide remit of publishing practices, policies, and technical solutions that are continuously evolving to meet the needs of the research community. 

Three librarians from specialized institutions, focusing on Black history and culture, the performing arts, and business, discuss their collections and explore several databases that are often the first resources they go to when fielding questions from patrons.

Best sellers in business and economics, November 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Whether you are looking to escape into the histories of some libraries or looking to expand your knowledge on the future of reading and research we’ve got something for every librarian with this reading list.

The 2021 Charleston Conference, held as a hybrid of in-person and virtual events, reflected many of the concerns of academic librarianship in the COVID-19 era. Sessions were lively and engaging, with a focus on practical information and an eye on ways to ensure that services and programs would remain sustainable in uncertain times.

Best sellers in engineering and technology, October 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The Association of College & Research Libraries and Public Library Association have launched Benchmark: Library Metrics and Trends, a new digital resource for data analysis and visualization designed to “help libraries plan, make informed decisions, and tell the story of their impact.”

A team at North Carolina State University Libraries has created the Global Change Games series to help engage students with global change topics.

Open research means faster, more equitable access to cutting edge findings, driving disciplines forward, and introducing transparency into the research process. As the world’s largest university press publisher of open access content, Oxford University Press believes a more open world should work for everyone.

Working with a wider range of students than their counterparts at four-year institutions, community college reference librarians face varied challenges and informational needs.

Designed for graduate and undergraduate students, SAGE Campus is an online learning platform that offers nearly 30 self-paced courses covering the fundamentals of data literacy, social science research methods, data science, and publication. Courses include interactive text and video content, lectures, quizzes, and practical exercises.

Comics Plus is an excellent resource to build and expand both sequential art collections and public awareness of the format’s diversity and appeal. The content is broad, deep, rich, and nuanced and offers high-interest options for dedicated and novice comics readers alike. Supporting resources, including the featured lists and category tags, provide support for library staff and an opportunity to increase community access to the format. The LibraryPass platform works almost intuitively and has been designed with clear library utility awareness.

Best sellers in social sciences, October 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Library Journal ’s survey on The State of Academic Libraries, fielded by LJ and ProQuest in May through July, sought to examine how college and university libraries worldwide have fared during this time of rapid adjustment—particularly during the 2020–21 academic year, when the pandemic dramatically accelerated changes across the board.

Best sellers in geology, October 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill administration announced on October 1 that, as part of major budget-tightening initiatives across the institution, the UNC Libraries’ funding will be cut by $5 million over two years. During the current academic year, close to $2 million will come from the collections budget.

Best sellers in the field of Latin American history, September 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries Rare and Distinctive Collections has partnered with the Department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts on a new undergraduate certificate program focused on media archiving and preservation.

Best sellers in medicine, September 2020 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.