2025
19
Feb
, and

Sustainable Menstrual Equity: A Case Study on the Success of Low-Cost Menstrual Cup Distribution

Free menstrual products at libraries are no longer a new phenomenon, thanks to the work of global menstrual equity advocates such as Period.org and Global Menstrual Collective. However, more often than not, these initiatives center around disposable period products. We argue that the work should not stop there. Libraries should explore the distribution of reusable menstrual products, such as menstrual cups and discs, cloth pads, and period underwear. These options are substantially better for the environment, safe to use, and can provide a form of long-term economic support by removing the need to continually buy disposable products. With $10,000 of grant funding, our academic library succeeded in distributing 701 menstrual cups for low cost on campus. Through our first vendor’s buy-one, donate-one policy, an additional 437 cups were donated to the vendor’s global charity partners (resulting in a total 1,138 cups distributed). This initiative not only addresses menstrual equity, with an average saving of $250 a year (and possible $2,500 savings over the ten-year lifespan of a menstrual cup) compared to disposable products, but also highlights the need for sustainable practices within institutional settings, providing a replicable model for others.
2025
8
Jan
and

Cripping Conferences: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Disability in Academia

In Brief This paper employs autoethnography to expose the conference experiences of disabled scholars within the academic and library fields, highlighting the systemic barriers found in these professional settings. In integrating personal narratives with theoretical insights, this study highlights how rigid conference spaces and norms do not accommodate disabled bodyminds, which hinders professional development, and...
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2024
12
Jun
, , and

Not Business as Usual: Incorporating LIS Student Perspectives in the Apprenticeship Hiring Process

In Brief While a Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree is typically necessary to become an academic librarian, practical experiences such as internships, practicums, and apprenticeships are essential in gaining employment post-graduation. Providing paid opportunities where LIS students participate in and contribute to meaningful mentorship, training, and work experience is critical to improving...
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2024
5
Jun
and

Using a Proposed Library Guide Assessment Standards Rubric and a Peer Review Process to Pedagogically Improve Library Guides: A Case Study

In Brief Library guides can help librarians provide information to their patrons regarding their library resources, services, and tools. Despite their perceived usefulness, there is little discussion in designing library guides pedagogically by following a set of assessment standards for a quality-checked review. Instructional designers regularly use vetted assessment standards and a peer review process...
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2024
10
Apr
, and

Not All Staying is the Same: Unpacking Retention and Turnover in Academic Libraries

In Brief: Although the academic libraries profession recognizes that retention is a complex and important issue, especially for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and supporting BIPOC librarians, the library literature largely avoids defining or providing a measurement for retention at all. In this paper we propose an original nuanced definition of retention. We...
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2024
3
Apr

Autistic Students and Academic Library Research: Recommendations for a Neurodiversity-Informed Approach

In Brief: Despite a growing pool of research in library and information science (LIS) authored by autistic librarians (see Lawrence, 2013; Tumlin, 2019),  the vast majority of LIS research about autistic students in academic libraries continues to portray autism as a tragedy that students must overcome, a common trope that the autistic community has long...
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2024
21
Feb
, , , and

Forming and Sustaining a Community of Practice for Volunteer-Based EDI Work

In Brief At the Diverse BookFinder (DBF), we work to move the diverse books discussion beyond increasing the number of books (see Aronson et al.) to a deeper consideration of how Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) are represented within diverse books. To accomplish this change, we’ve cataloged and analyzed thousands of...
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