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Last post: Sep 26, 2026
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Three Pieces of Advice for First-Year Academic Librarians
Sep 26, 2026 · original
I thought my first year at Vanderbilt had flown by, but as it turns out, the first semester of my second year seems like it’s moving even more quickly! As I finish up the first five weeks of the semester, I’ve been thinking a lot about how different this year feels from last year, and how I wish I could go back and tell myself not to be stressed because before long, I would have plenty of outreach from students and faculty! If there were three things I could tell myself a year ago, they would be: Spend time on relationships One thing that I didn’t expect about librarianship is how important it would be to build relationships with the department that I support – and that although the relationship building may take time to pay off, it’s important not to give up on it. For example, I started holding in-person office hours in the Spring 2026 semester, setting up a two-hour mobile office once
Making the Cross-Border Jump as an Academic Librarian
Sep 18, 2026 · original
Moving to the United States, especially at this sociopolitical moment was not something I was expecting (re: see Violet’s most recent post here ), however, a dream position came up that I couldn’t turn down! I wanted to take this first post as a regular contributor to ACRLog and mark this turn in my career in hopes to help anyone else who might be going through similar changes. Applying Interviewing and applying to positions in other countries is straightforward, like other types of interviewing, but reading the fine print may be necessary. Some positions say visa sponsorship is not available but may be open to Canadian applicants through the TN visa process. Sending an inquiry to HR before applying just to ensure that the institution and search committee is aware that you are a Canadian applicant might be a good idea as well. The academic library interviews were more intense than the Ca
Library of Congress: “POTUS pawns”
Sep 12, 2026 · original
In March 2025, I wrote about anticipatory obedience at the Library of Congress , describing how LC fast tracked changes to the Library of Congress Subject Headings relating to the Gulf of Mexico and Mount Denali. When Trump issued an executive order on August 27th directing federal agencies to change Lake Ontario to Lake America, catalogers around the world waited to see how LC would handle the changes. Well, we didn’t have to wait long. On September 3rd, LC scheduled a proposal to change the subject heading Ontario, Lake (N.Y. and Ont.) to America, Lake (N.Y. and Ont.) . On September 4th, LC published an announcement that the tentative changes would have no comment period. On September 11th, the change to “Lake America” was approved and is now the valid heading for LCSH. As I mentioned in my post last year, the speed with which this happened is astounding—just eight days! The division a
The Allegory of the Meniscus or Accepting the Reality of Middle Management in Higher Education
Sep 1, 2026 · original
Editor’s note: We welcome a guest blog post from Dustin Fife, College Librarian at Colorado College Library. As with so many people who have recently completed a dissertation , I worry/assume that it will not find a broad audience, which is okay. However, there was one aspect of my study that felt so essential to the daily life of higher education that I translated it into this format and have focused on what I believe is a particularly important and illuminating illustration. I spent time with academic library administrators (deans and directors) exploring their experiences with DEIA work and had a key framework reinforced throughout the interviews for better understanding almost everything they do. It will not sound monumental at first, but the lived experiences of the people with whom I worked, along with my own experiences leading libraries and observing campuses, tells me that we ha
A sensory room in the library
Aug 28, 2026 · original
As the new semester gets ready to kick off, among other things, I’m getting ready for a new Project SEARCH intern . In preparation, we’re thinking about the work they might do at the library, including working on our sensory room . Which brings me to the topic of this post: the sensory room itself. Before I get too deep into things, I want to add the disclaimer that I’ve only tangentially worked on the sensory room; it’s really my boss who’s done the bulk of the work, and all credit really should go to her. Now onto the post! First of all, what is a sensory room? You can read the Wikipedia article on sensory rooms for yourself to learn more about some of the theory. The goals for our sensory room were to provide a place for library visitors to find stress relief, relax and work through emotions, and use items related to different sensory experiences. To get this project going, we needed
A Born-Digital Librarian’s Reflection on Digital Educational Tools
Aug 24, 2026 · original
Editor’s note: We welcome a guest blog post from Senka Stankovic, Head of User Services at the Jean-Léon Allie Library , Saint-Paul University. As an early-career librarian halfway through a year-long parental leave contract at Saint Paul University, I’ve noticed that digital tools are fundamental to how we ideate and deliver educational workshops. Born-digital, recently a student, and new to the workforce, I’ve come to believe that many digital tools that are meant to improve learning instead strip away the friction that the acquisition of knowledge requires. In this post, I explore three common classroom technologies: the slide deck, the laptop, and the gadgets [1] . I present how these so-called “tools” often get in our way, and I offer opportunities for reintroducing friction to the classroom in the classroom in the form of minor inconveniences. This friction can lead to higher engag
Q&A: Open Educational Resources as a New High-Impact Practice
Aug 20, 2026 · original
If you follow open education news, you probably heard over the summer that AAC&U recognized Open Educational Resources (OER) as a High-Impact Practice (HIP). OER’s addition to the roster of 12 teaching and learning practices means AAC&U has deemed there to be “…significant educational benefits for students who participate in them—including and especially those from demographic groups historically underserved by higher education.” To achieve the requisite degree of evidence, AAC&U commissioned what it describes as “the largest examination of OER to date.” Over two years, their research team examined around 700,000 student records along with qualitative responses from over 200 instructors who had implemented OER in their courses, drawn from 15 institutions across six Carnegie classifications . This project has major implications for the future of open education in the U.S., not only as the
Seeking First Year Academic Librarian Bloggers for 2026-27
Aug 18, 2026 · original
As we enter a new academic year, we’re looking to bring on a few new bloggers here at ACRLog. We’d like to thank our 2025-26 FYAL bloggers Lisa Shin, M. Roberts, and Eleanor Ball for their terrific posts this past year in our First Year Academic Librarian Experience series. We’d also like to encourage new academic librarians — those who are just beginning in their first position at an academic library — to blog with us during their first year. FYAL bloggers typically publish posts monthly during the academic year. If you’re interested in applying to be a FYAL blogger here at ACRLog, applications are due by Monday, September 14 . Please submit an application through this Google form . Proposals are evaluated by the ACRLog blog team . When selecting FYAL bloggers we consider: Diversity of race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/ability Voices from a range of academic institutions (for example, c
Learning from our Students as First Year Academic Librarians
Aug 12, 2026 · original
This marks the last collaborative post as First Year Academic Librarians, and we wanted to take a chance to share some of our most memorable experiences – learning directly from students. From instruction to outreach, none of the activities and events we do would be possible without an audience, and we often found that we learned more from them, even when we were instructors. Eleanor: Trust Your Inner Student When I began working as a librarian, I was twenty-four years old. I had just finished six straight years of higher education, and I felt that one of my biggest strengths as a research librarian was my closeness in age and experience to our students. I was immediately familiar with the experience of being a student: zoning out during my Zoom night classes, drowning in busy work, debating whether I could afford eggs at Aldi that week. But although it’s only been a year, I can already
First Year Reflections
Aug 10, 2026 · original
Tuesday of last week, August 4, marked one year in my role at Vanderbilt. The time has flown by! One of my goals for the summer was to reflect on my first year as a librarian and to plan for the second year based on what I’d learned. Although I haven’t had as much time for that reflection as I’d hoped, for my final post as a First-Year Academic Librarian blogger, I wanted to share a few lessons learned that I’m planning to build on during the upcoming year: Be proactive I started this job last year only three weeks before the first day of fall classes. Although it felt like enough of a head start at the time, especially considering that I had only moved to Nashville a few weeks prior, I wish that it had been possible for me to start earlier. As it was, there were several classes that I had to get ready to teach or co-teach at the last minute, relationships with the department I support t

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