Academic library programs and services can be challenging to sustain in the face of staffing turnover, financial constraints, and gaps in expertise. In this reflection, the authors discuss strategies for sustaining programs and how to foster growth of services over time. The success and evolution of a dedicated open science program at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries has depended upon forming partnerships, both internal and external to the university, and hiring postdocs with deep disciplinary expertise and fresh perspectives on open science. The authors also share practical advice for successfully recruiting postdocs in academic libraries.

Abstract Objective COVID-19 challenged information exchanged globally, including interlibrary loan (ILL) procedures and processes. This research focused on resource-sharing networks used by Health Sciences Libraries (HSL) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify changes in ILL and Document Delivery (DD) processes both in lending and borrowing. Methods From nine academic and association HSL who had participated in a prior study of DOCLINE usage, researchers requested institutional-level de-identified data on ILL and DD during the early pandemic period March-August 2020 and the comparison period of March-August 2019. We compared the journal article request data with previously reported findings from DOCLINE aggregated data. Results Regarding the number of requests from the nine institutions, five saw a decrease, while four saw an increase. The average rate of journal borrowing decreased by 67.1% (standard deviation (SD) 31.7%) per library, and lending decreased on average by 44.7% (SD 68.2%) per library. Document delivery, on average, decreased by only 1.9%, though this varied widely (SD 45.5%). ​​For the data on monographs loaned during the pandemic, there was a predominance of single request titles unfilled across 2019 and 2020 (n = 1631; 93.5%). Conclusion The predominance of single request titles unfilled during the pandemic when libraries limited their sharing of physical materials argues for a deeper exploration of controlled digital lending of materials held in print. The findings across this study and its related investigations (Lloyd et al., 2022; Bakker et al., 2023) on the impact of the pandemic on resource sharing can inform and enhance preparedness planning, future resource sharing workflows and messaging, budgeting, evidence-based collection development, and dialog with content copyright holders about digitization priorities.

Science communication has taken center stage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines in the context of public outreach and citizen science. Developing practical communication skills is imperative for all scientists to be highly successful in their careers and more so for underrepresented and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals in STEM. The program, led by the Engineering and Science Librarian at the University of Victoria (UVic) Libraries, aimed to equip students and early career scientists with critical communication skills by leveraging the unique voices and lived experiences of BIPOC speakers in STEM disciplines. Through this program, a unique toolkit with engaging modules consisting of 30 short videos, each three minutes long (30 x 3) by BIPOC speakers was created to provide broad foundational skills in verbal and visual communication, using an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (EDISJ) lens. A two-day conference offered networking and communication development opportunities to students and early-career scientists in STEM disciplines by connecting them with BIPOC STEM leaders and visionaries who promote STEM advocacy. This paper will discuss the methods used in the creation of the toolkit and conference using an EDISJ lens.

This Special Issue of Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship (ISTL) on Social Justice came out of a column series that aimed to define social justice concepts and provide contextual examples of them for science and technology librarians. As they were developing the column series, the five authors (Jeffra D. Bussmann, Isabel M. Altamirano, Sam Hansen, Nastasha E. Johnson, and Gr Keer) thought it was also important to highlight the social justice work that was actively being done in science and technology libraries, and thought an ISTL Special Issue was the best way to accomplish this goal. This team reached out to the editorial board of the journal ISTL with their idea and let the board know that their ambition was to continue the conversation they were fortunate enough to begin in ISTL about social justice and science librarianship.

Journal coverage is an important factor to consider when evaluating a database. In this study, we counted the number of articles (including early access articles) in newly-launched journals (2018-2022) from two major association publishers in engineering and computer science: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). We then compared these numbers with the number of articles from these journals in Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection, Scopus, and Google Scholar (GS). Results indicated that GS had higher percentages for coverage for all the journals that were assessed and outperformed WOS and Scopus in terms of how fast newly-launched journals were indexed. Findings from this study will help librarians evaluate each database in reference, instruction, and collection development.

Prior research on information literacy instruction in engineering graduate programs rarely considers course instructor perspectives, and instead only uses student feedback to evaluate the efficacy of information literacy instruction. This study documents the authors’ efforts to evolve the library curriculum to motivate student learning and meet the course needs. Data collected from the student survey and course instructor questionnaire found that most students reported that the instruction was engaging and satisfying, but evaluations of the usefulness of the instruction were mixed. The course instructor was satisfied with the students’ overall work in information gathering though found their project reports unsatisfactory in terms of report writing and critical thinking. The findings shed light on student needs and faculty expectations of engineering project-based graduate courses.

When librarians at Oklahoma State University (OSU) began creating services to support data intensive research they found plenty of published guidance about doing surveys and outreach to get started. However, they also found that offering the prescribed workshops and consultations didn’t assure that researchers would use them. A Sparks! grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) allowed OSU to try two novel techniques, customer journey mapping and design thinking, to engage researchers and answer the question “What is the role and impact of the library in helping researchers manage their data along the entire project lifecycle?” One of the outcomes of the project was creation of a toolkit that provides a step-by-step project management plan to guide libraries, especially those with limited resources, to prioritize needs and create offerings with the assistance of their user communities. This column intends to discuss this project management framework, with an emphasis on how it was implemented to meet the goals of the IMLS project.

Cement and concrete are all around us, from sidewalks and buildings to runways and dams, and yet most of us hardly stop

As science and technology libraries continue to evolve, specialized research support services are developed and offered at academic institutions or research organizations. Making sense of this changing landscape and determining the best programs for an institution can be a daunting task, especially for early-career librarians. This article aims to provide an overview of various small to medium size non-traditional or specialized research support services in academic and special libraries serving Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. A systematic search of five databases was conducted for articles that described the development and implementation of research support services. Non-traditional or specialized research support services identified in this scoping review fall in the following areas: bibliometrics/altmetrics, data management services, geographic information systems, patents, and systematic reviews. The paper provides a detailed foundation for novice and experienced STEM librarians to offer innovative library services or enhance existing research support services.

The ACRL Science and Technology Section (STS) Professional Development commitee members administers a survey approximately every two years to section members to learn what continuing education topics members are interested in. Surveys are sent to all section members as well as to members of the STS-L mailing list. This article reports on the results of the 2018 survey.