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#NoTechforICE was started by the national Latinx and Chicanx social justice advocacy group Mijente in 2018, when it became clear that government agencies such as ICE and CBP were purchasing public, private, and commercial data to gather information to aid in the sweeps and deportations of undocumented immigrants. Two companies that have entered into contracts with ICE, LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters—which owns LexisNexis competitor Westlaw—are staples of college and university database subscriptions, and the campaign has caught the attention of academic librarians nationwide.

Best sellers in social sciences, July 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Abstract: Librarians are feeling the squeeze. As they seek to meet changing patron expectations and a dynamic technological environment, they are often simultaneously faced with budget cuts and leadership looking over their shoulder for evidence of institutional value. 

Library system analytics can be applied to a wide range of use cases. The integration of a research information management system (RIMS) expands those options. The Weizmann Institution of Science Library transformed analytics results and narratives into faculty-facing communication, integrating context and metadata and supporting scientists in complying with their research grant open access requirements.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) recently commissioned Ithaka S+R to examine how academic research libraries in Canada and the United States help their institutions achieve strategic priorities, what can be done to advance this work, and how university leaders gauge expectations of their libraries.

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

An educational resource comprised of 100-plus exclusive articles by scholars from 25 countries, a four-volume collection of critical readings on historiography, and 60+ scholarly books from Bloomsbury’s catalog. Also included are essays on key concepts and thinkers, learning aides on using primary sources, and in-depth studies of influential classics. Teachers of historical theories and methods will welcome this resource, while researchers at all levels will appreciate the powerful search, user-friendly design, and robust scholarly content.

Gale's new addition to the Archives and Sexuality of Gender introduces the “Hell” segment of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, an infamous private collection of “forbidden books” established in the 1830s. The collection, which includes literary works, manuscripts, engravings, lithographs, and photographs with erotic and illicit themes (e.g., the Flagellation Collection), is perfect for research on sexuality and gender, cultural studies, literature, French cultural history, and more. However, most of the sources are in French, which might this harder to use for non-Francophone researchers.

Vendors offer a variety of training options and practical tips to ensure librarians and patrons get the most out of their databases.

The use and visibility of open access (OA) content collections and open educational resources (OER) appear to be changing at colleges and universities, according to the results of LJ’s 2022 Open Access/Open Educational Resources Survey, sponsored by SirsiDynix. Many institutions and their libraries are placing more emphasis on helping students and faculty find those resources, but survey participants feel they are not fully satisfied with how well their search interfaces direct students to these collections, or with their frequency of use.

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

At the University of Surrey, an innovative Student Curator program built on the Ex Libris Leganto course reading list solution has positioned the library as a leading campus voice in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The merger of two major Taiwanese universities was the perfect opportunity to upgrade from siloed systems to a single, shared network with the cloud-based Ex Libris platform.

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.

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

This database contains thousands of primary documents from 1870 through 1920, sourced from eight archives and libraries (including the Library of Congress, the New-York Historical Society, and Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library). It includes personal and business papers of key industrialists; records from rail, steel, and oil corporations; material on labor disputes, politics, and progressivism; and a variety of visuals on fashion, material culture, and architecture; plus calendars, cartoons, diaries, ephemera, essays, personal correspondence, and reports. It is an outstanding resource for general researchers, scholars, and students of late 19th and early 20th-century American history, culture, and society.

Launched in 2022, this groundbreaking research database brings together ProQuest’s rich array of African American studies content from a wide range of sources, including scholarly journals, historical newspapers, encyclopedias, dissertations, and archival materials totaling around 10 million pages. Researchers of all levels will appreciate the database’s powerful search, user-friendly design, and extensive scholarly and archival content.

For librarians looking to change career course, post-MLIS certificates can help them learn a new specialization or catch up on technologies.

Like many people around the world, I have become enamored with Ted Lasso. This comedy from Apple stars Jason Sudeikis as the titular character in a show with storylines that are funny, sweet, sad, and, at their heart, kind.

The papers of Samson Occom—Presbyterian minister, scholar, educator, and early funder of what would become Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH—have been restored to Occom’s Mohegan homeland in Connecticut from their previous location at Dartmouth’s Rauner Special Collections Library. On April 27, Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon led a delegation bringing the papers from New Hampshire to Connecticut in a repatriation ceremony.

Best sellers in the subject of U.S. history, May 2021 to date, as identified by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

In a new insights report from Gale, academic thought leaders discuss their role in championing EDI on campus—and provide advice to help other colleges and universities develop effective, sustainable programs.

Leiden University Libraries chose the Alma platform for its flexibility, governance, ongoing support and sophisticated analytics – and the community that comes with it.

Concerns about students’ mental health during lockdowns prompted Middlesex student engagement and wellbeing teams to launch a monthly survey to assess and support student mental health. 

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

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.

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).  

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..

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The amount of scholarly output is growing exponentially, with rapidly changing models and newly emerging channels for publishing research outcomes.

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.

University research offices manage an increasingly complex set of responsibilities. Research has become a several-hundred-million-dollar source of revenue at many institutions, and the role of the research office is to oversee, protect, and further develop this vital enterprise.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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