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Rightsizing Your Collection

Illustration: ©cristinn/Adobe Stock Academic librarians have long grappled with issues of collection size, quality versus quantity, and maintaining a core collection. In previous eras, libraries provided access to content by acquiring and owning print copies of titles to allow immediate access to users. From a national perspective, we now understand that collections are hugely redundant […]

Creating Fundable Grant Propos1

Illustration: ©Sylverarts/Adobe Stock Grant proposals that include partnerships have a significant competitive advantage. Whether these partnerships are with other departments within the same library or with external groups that allow the funder to invest in multiple groups through one grant, collaborations can give you a leg up. But most people have little or no training […]

The Weight We Carry

Photo illustration: ©Victor Tongdee/Adobe Stock As librarians, we are affected by our work. We’re often directly exposed to traumatic events or feeling the indirect results of natural disasters, terrorist events, or rioting. We experience secondary exposure by hearing patrons speak out about their traumas and even by helping them find the resources they need to […]

Can You Hear Me Now?

Illustration: Kwun Yee/Adobe Stock When Boston College Libraries was forced to close its doors this spring during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rodrigo Castro, head librarian for access services, made a list. “I started identifying the tasks that individuals could do remotely versus tasks they could do onsite,” he says. “When you are in this situation, your […]