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Excellence in the Stacks: Strategies, practices and reflections of award-winning libraries

Edited by Jacob Hill and Susan Swords Steffen, Elmhurst College, USA

Chandos Information Professional Series

 - content drawn from submissions from ten years of ACRL award-winning libraries
 -  authors from varied roles (library directors to interning students) give readers a comprehensive snapshot, encompassing good practices from multiple levels of the profession
 -  overlying theme of institutional excellence applicable to all aspects of international librarianship, and is also relevant to other academic organizations which serve student populations

Excellence in the Stacks details the philosophies, practices and innovations of award-winning libraries over the last ten years. It will inform the profession and highlight the themes and strategies these liberal-arts colleges share, and where they differ. Using the Association of Research and College Libraries Excellence in Academic Libraries Award standards as guidelines for exploring librarianship, this book gathers the perspectives of all types of librarians at all levels of employment. By highlighting winners’ holistic approaches it helps define and focus the energies of college libraries in their pursuit of outstanding service and increased valuation by their parent institution.

ISBN 1 84334 665 6
ISBN-13: 978 1 84334 665 4
March 2013
198 pages  234 x 156mm  paperback  
£47.50 / US$80.00 / €55.00

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About the editors

Jacob Hill is the reference and instruction librarian for the award-winning A.C. Buehler Library at Elmhurst College. He has recently presented and published content on plagiarism-detection software, mobile resource access, and reference desk communication applications. Jacob is currently investigating college/secondary education liaison program partnerships.

Susan Swords Steffen is the director of the library at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois. With over 30 years of experience in college libraries, she has spoken and written extensively about library innovation and has taught at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University as an adjunct faculty member.

Titles which may also be of interest:
Managing Academic Libraries
New Directions for Academic Liaison Librarians
Universal Design
Academic Branch Libraries in Changing Times
Numeric Data Services and Sources for the General Reference Librarian
Managing Integrated First-Line Support in Academic Libraries

Contents

Measuring the “excellence” of librarianship at Earlham College
Neal Baker and Nancy Taylor
 - Measuring “library excellence” through numbers: the MISO Survey
 - Questioning “library excellence”
 - References

Graduate services at the Newman Library
Linda Rath and Christopher Tuthill
 - Introduction
 - The national urban fellows: developing best practices
 - through a target population
 - Newman Library’s credit courses

The evolving liaison model at Mount Holyoke College
Alex Wirth-Cauchon
 - Situating the College and LITS
 - Separate departments and parallel liaisons: project-based collaborations
 - Merged department with parallel liaisons: collaboration on a daily basis
 - Merged department with single, blended liaisons: toward a (high-)performing team
 - Notes
 - References

Fast-forward: the transformation of excellence
Carla B. Tracy
 - Back to basics
 - Making the argument
 - A paradigm is hard to change
 - Continuing challenges
 - Lessons learned?
 - References

In unison with our communities and with each other: striving for excellence in college librarianship
Sam Demas
 - Individual and organizational development
 - Partnerships and collaborations
 - Support for learning and teaching
 - Notes
 - References

Looking outward: partnerships and outreach at Hollins University
Luke Vilelle and Maryke Barber
 - Introduction
 - The challenges of today’s academic environment
 - The outward-looking library; or, why it is natural and beneficial to play well with others
 - About Hollins University and the Wyndham Robertson Library
 - Students: working as a team
 - The faculty: partnering by providing solutions
 - Administrative departments: find common interests
 - Conclusion: partnering across the campus
 - Note
 - References

The A.C. Buehler Library at Elmhurst College: handcrafted academic library services
Peg Cook, Donna Goodwyn, Jacob Hill, Elaine Fetyko Page, Jennifer Paliatka, Susan Swords Steffen
 - A culture of information literacy
 - Engaging the campus
 - Librarians as faculty
 - Sustaining excellence through innovation
 - How the A.C. Buehler Library practices innovation
 - Nurturing librarians: Kyle Jones reflects on his pathway to the profession
 - Conclusion
 - References
 - Additional reading

Success through community: engagement at Grinnell College Libraries
Julia Bauder and Beth Bohstedt
 - A brief introduction to Grinnell College
 - Why focus on engagement?
 - Engaging students as teachers
 - Engaging students as curators
 - Engaging students through events
 - Engaging with diversity
 - Engaging students in library decision-making
 - Conclusion
 - Note
 - References

Excellence at Champlain: spending Groundhog Day in the Kuhlthau model
Janet R. Cottrell
 - An outlier
 - Making every book count
 - Embedding instruction in the liberal arts
 - Matching the mission
 - Fostering innovation and autonomy
 - Living with uncertainty
 - Notes
 - References

Afterword: academic library value and the college library
Susan Swords Steffen
 - References