January 2024 MBR The Library Science Shelf

The Library Science Shelf

Libraries Without Borders
Steven A. Knowlton, et al.
ALA Editions
www.alastore.ala.org
9780838936634, $69.99, PB, 216pp

https://www.alastore.ala.org/LHRTbook

Synopsis: What does it mean for a library to be without borders?

"Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History" is remarkable collection of essays, drawn from the Library History Seminar sponsored by the Library History Round Table (LHRT), explores the roles that libraries have played in the communities they serve, well beyond the stacks and circulation desk.

The research contained in these pages shows how librarians and users can not only reach beyond the border separating professionals from patrons, but also across institutional boundaries separating different specializations within the profession, and outside traditional channels of knowledge acquisition and organization.

Delving into a variety of goals, approaches, and practices, all with the intention of fostering community and providing information, this collection's fascinating topics includes:

1. A critique of library history as it is currently conducted, pointing out the borders of habit, familiarity, and bias that thwart diversity within library and information studies.

2. Stories of the community-based activism that has been key to battling the "epistemicide" that can undermine collective understandings about the world and the interests of African American library users.

3. Profiles of current Indigenous library practitioners who are both documenting and creating library history.

4. A grassroots movement to create a comprehensive collection related to the theology and practice of the Society of Mary at the time of great ecclesiastical and liturgical changes.

5. Histories of the innovations which led to the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services and the Instruction Section of ACRL.

6. Using the "due date" as a lens for understanding how patrons and the general public feel about the role of libraries and their rules in the lives of average Americans.

7. How the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act influenced the work of research libraries that collected materials from the Communist Bloc.

8. A primer on conducting research in library history that will allow readers to explore how libraries in their own communities have affected the lives of their users.

Critique: Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by the team of Steven A. Knowlton, Ellen M. Possi, Jordan S. Sly, and Emily D. Spunagule, "Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History" also features an informative Foreword by Renate L. Crancelle. Exceptionally informative and impressively organized and presented, "Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History" is an ideal for in-service Library Science workshops and training seminars. Of particular relevance for supplemental General Library Administration curriculum studies lists, Libraries Without Borders: New Directions in Library History" is unreservedly recommended for college and university library Informational/Library Science instructional reference collections.

Editorial Note #1: Steven A. Knowlton is Librarian for History and African American Studies at Princeton University. His research has appeared in many peer-reviewed journals, and he has served on editorial boards or as editor for numerous scholarly publications including Libraries: Culture, History, Society. He has won the Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award twice and is the recipient of prizes from the West Tennessee Historical Society and the North American Vexillological Association. His first edited book, Oscar Federhen's Thirteen Months in Dixie, or, the Adventures of a Federal Prisoner in Texas, appeared in 2022.

Editorial Note #2: Ellen M. Pozzi is an Associate Professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Her research interests include library history and diversity in children's and young adult literature. Her publications include "Going to 'America': Italian Neighborhoods and the Newark Free Public Library, 1900-1920" published in the edited book Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America. She is an ALA Councilor and a past chair of the Library History Round Table.

Editorial Note #3: Jordan S. Sly is the Head of the Humanities and Social Science Librarians and the librarian for Anthropology, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Digital Humanities, French, German, and Italian studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has published in the areas of library history, the extensions of critical theory in the practice of librarianship, digital humanities, and more.

Editorial Note #4: Emily D. Spunaugle is Humanities and Rare Books Librarian at Oakland University (Rochester, MI). She is published in library history and book history of the long eighteenth century and is co-director of the Marguerite Hicks Project. She has served as chair of the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association and as associate editor for SHARP News.

The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy
Judit H. Ward, author
Nicholas A. Allred, author
ALA Editions
www.alastore.ala.org
9780838936627, $49.99, PB, 160pp

https://www.amazon.com/Librarians-Guide-Bibliotherapy-Judit-Ward/dp/0838936628

Synopsis: Bibliotherapy is a concept that can be best defined as the use of guided reading for therapeutic ends. And though you, as a librarian, might not be a licensed mental health professional, you can (and do, even without knowing it) support mental health and personal growth by connecting patrons to books that heal.

Regardless of your previous experience or existing skills, "The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy" is an instructive guide that will empower you to make "shelf help" a part of your library's relationship with its community.

Drawing on Reading for Recovery (a Carnegie-Whitney grant-funded project), "The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy" by co-authors Judith H. Ward and Nicholas A. Allred begins with an overview of bibliotherapy, including its concepts and history, and sketches out how its various approaches can be adapted for library settings

It then goes on to explore the potential of bibliotherapy as an add-on to existing skills, services, practices, and collections; demonstrate how bibliotherapy-inspired initiatives can address the needs of diverse communities (thus advancing libraries' commitment to EDISJ); offer techniques for selecting reading material for your audience with bibliotherapy in mind; provide a range of possible programs ranging from group discussions and public events to book displays and reading lists, along with a step-by-step approach to planning and implementing them.

"The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy" also shares outreach tips, tools, and branding ideas to make the most of your resources and effectively reach your audience; demonstrates how to use assessment tools to test and tweak your program at every stage to achieve the results you want; and inspires you to take your offerings into new directions, such as creative writing and visual art programs, that fit your library and community.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy provides a complete and comprehensive course of instruction and is an ideal and unreservedly recommended textbook for in-service training programs and supplemental Library Science curriculum studies lists. Every personal, professional, community/academic library, library system, college or university Library Science collection should include a copy "The Librarian's Guide to Bibliotherapy".

Editorial Note #1: Judit H. Ward is a Science Librarian at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. In addition to providing reference, teaching library research, and hosting outreach programs, she promotes reading for mental health and wellness. In her previous position as the Director of Information Services at the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies she developed "Reading for Recovery," a bibliotherapy-inspired tool for people grappling with addiction as the recipient of an ALA Carnegie-Whitney Award in 2014. She has presented her research and practice related to guided reading from the librarian's perspective both nationally and internationally. She is the author or co-author of over 150 articles and seven books, including two bibliotherapy readers in her native Hungarian. She received her MLIS from Rutgers, after earning a PhD in Linguistics and an MA in English and Hungarian Literature and Linguistics from the University of Debrecen, Hungary.

Editorial Note #2: Nicholas A. Allred is Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT. He holds an M.St. in English from Oxford University and a PhD in Literatures in English from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His scholarly writing has appeared in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, and the edited collection Scholarly Milton. While at Rutgers, he collaborated extensively with the Center of Alcohol Studies and Rutgers University Libraries on bibliotherapy-inspired projects and initiatives, including "Reading for Recovery" - - a guided reading tool for people with addictions developed with funding from the ALA Carnegie-Whitney Award. He is currently at work on his first academic monograph, on connections between the prehistory of addiction and conceptions of fictional character in eighteenth-century British culture.

Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries
Claire Walker Wiley, et al.
ACRL Books Association of College & Research Libraries
c/o American Library Association
https://www.ala.org
9780838939857, $84.00, PB, 376pp

https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Evidence-Based-Practice-Academic-Libraries/dp/0838939856

Synopsis: Evidence-based practice (EBP) in academic librarianship is embedded in the way librarians are trained to approach their work. An EBP project might be a yearlong study with many types of evidence collected or a simple assessment that helps to make a small adjustment to a given work. Large or small, EBP is a way of operating day-to-day.

Collaboratively compiled and co-edited by the team of Claire Walker Wiley, Amanda B. Click, and Meggan Houlihan, "Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries: Case Studies and Reflections" collects excellent, thorough examples of EBP across functional areas of academic libraries and includes many evidence types in a variety of contexts.

"Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries" is comprised of five sections that explore the themes of: Understanding Users; Leadership and Management; Instruction and Outreach; Collections. Open Initiatives.

"Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries" is a compendium of informative studies on how to understand the experiences and needs of diverse student populations; interviewing faculty to build scholarly partnerships; evidence-based strategic planning; incorporating intersectionality in information literacy instruction; conducting a diversity audit; and assessing open educational resources initiatives. The conclusion calls for librarian reflection to be incorporated into evidence-based decision-making, as reflection is key to understanding the ways that a librarian chooses to embody librarianship.

"Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries" offers high-quality evidence from a variety of perspectives and inspires a commitment to evidence-based practice in your day-to-day work and library culture.

Critique: Comprehensive, exceptional, and ideal for use as a curriculum textbook for in-service training workshops and supplemental Library Science curriculums, "Everyday Evidence-Based Practice in Academic Libraries: Case Studies and Reflections" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, and college/university Library Science collections.

Editorial Note #1: Claire Walker Wiley is a research and instruction librarian at Belmont University. In this position, she serves as the liaison to the Colleges of Business and Entertainment and Music Business. Her research interests include information literacy, business information literacy, the use of evidence synthesis methods in LIS, and librarians as academic advisors. Claire has a BA in English and French from Harding University, an MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MSM from Austin Peay State University.

Editorial Note #2: Amanda B. Click is the head of research and instruction at the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy. Previously, she was the business librarian at American University in Washington, DC. She earned a PhD in information science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied the cultural adaptation of international students to higher education in the United States. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Amanda was the coordinator of instruction at the American University in Cairo. Amanda also holds an MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BS in science, technology, and culture from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research interests include the globalization of higher education, academic integrity, information literacy, and scholarly communications. S

Editorial Note #3: Meggan Houlihan is the director of the Open Society University Network (OSUN) library resources program, where she provides creative leadership for instruction, outreach, and collections efforts for the organization. She directs the OSUN open educational resource program where she works to promote diversity, representation, and open pedagogy. Prior to her role at OSUN, Meggan served in leadership roles at Colorado State University, New York University Abu Dhabi, and the American University in Cairo. Her research interests include information literacy, international students, and the use of evidence synthesis methods in LIS. Meggan has a BA in history from Eastern Illinois University, a MA in modern history from the University of Reading (UK), and an MLS from Indian University.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review