National Library Week

This is the first research paper to address the role that academic libraries play in LGBT student retention.

To transform successfully, academic research libraries must ask themselves: How can we cultivate the imagination of students? What are we enabling students to do and become? The essay offers examples of how one academic research library, UCLA Library, is applying these strategies within its own institutional context, while learning from other forward-thinking organizations.

In this information-rich age, librarians' roles are even more important. They are information experts.

The data suggests first-time, first-year undergraduate students who use the library have a higher GPA for their first semester and higher retention from fall to spring than non-library users.

There was a correlation between greater use of the library and increases in GPA between the two years-that is, as one grew, so did the other. The study also showed that students who checked out materials in one year returned for additional checkouts.

A lecture explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens.

This article examines readers' advisory services that we can borrow or adapt from public libraries, services that can attract new users, promote lifelong reading, and transform academic libraries to be more community, user, and reader focused.

This article shows the positive impact of library use and students' success.