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FeaturedOriginal
Kaetrena Davis Kendrick

Considering Beneficence as a Core Librarianship Practice

Apathy.  Disengagement. Burnout. Contempt. Anger. These are a few commonly reported long-term behavioral and emotional outcomes of low-morale experiences, which I’ve been talking with academic and public library workers about since 2016.  Defined as repeated, protracted exposure to workplace abuse and neglect, these experiences reveal the pervasiveness of dysfunctional behaviors in library workplaces. Just as concerning, long-term exposure to harm also results in increased breaches of ethics, and many library workers report high levels of skepticism, mistrust, and uncertainty towards their colleagues and library users.

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EducationFeatured
Azeez Adeoye

The Soul of the Library, From Chaos to Clarity: What Makes a Vibrant Library in a University System?

A library is a people-oriented institution that evolves with civilisation. To avert chaos and ensure smooth functioning, libraries rely on a set of guiding principles known as library policies. These policies are not static—they must be regularly updated to address emerging needs and challenges. Yet, in many parts of the Global South, library policies are seen as an unachievable task—a mountain too steep to climb, not something easily conquered or routinely adopted. This perception is misleading. In reality, library policies are not complex. They are usually simple rules, often expressed in a few words, that help govern the day-to-day operations of a library.

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FeaturedOriginal
Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng

Why Not the Pub? Rethinking UK Bars as Accessible Learning Environments

This isn’t a manifesto to turn every UK pub into a coworking space. I’m not here to replace crisps with coursework or suggest that anyone swap pints for PowerPoint. UK bars serve a really rooted cultural role as social hubs, third places and sites of relaxation, laughter and (often messy) community. But after weeks of hopping between libraries and cafés (some packed, others shutting early or refusing laptops) I found myself quietly wondering: Why not the pub?

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FeaturedTranslation
Wenqing Wu

Assess Novelty in Academic Research: A Human-AI Collaborative Approach

In academia, one of the key criteria for determining whether a research paper is publishable is its novelty. Novelty means that the paper is bringing something new to the table—new ideas, new methods, or new findings that haven’t been seen before. It’s like asking, “Does this paper tell us something we didn’t already know?” But figuring out whether a paper is truly novel can be tricky. Traditionally, experts in the field have been responsible for making such judgements, but even they have their limitations. Another way is to measure the novelty of a study through unusual combinations of references or journals in its bibliography, but this is not always reliable either. So, can we combine the strengths of humans and machines to improve this process?

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FeaturedInfoFire
Shalini Urs

The Commons of Science—Why It Takes a Village: Christine Borgman on Collaboration, Curation, and the Invisible Infrastructure of Knowledge

This article examines the evolution of scientific knowledge infrastructures through the influential work of Christine L. Borgman, Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA. Framed around the concept of science as a commons, it traces a three-decade transformation—from digital libraries in the 1990s to cyberinfrastructure in the 2000s, culminating in today’s sociotechnical framing of knowledge infrastructures. Borgman’s scholarship highlights how data acquire value not in isolation, but through complex systems of people, practices, tools, and institutions that enable their curation, sharing, and reuse.

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FeaturedOriginal
Shaharima Parvin

Librarians as Cultural Stewards: Preserving Iftar Traditions Through Storytelling

By preserving the traditions of Iftar, librarians play the role of cultural stewards, spiritual witnesses, and bridge builders. In urban societies, many traditions are changing or disappearing. The pressures of modern life – migration, economic transition, climate change – have changed the way people celebrate Ramadan. Preserving Iftar traditions is therefore not only an act of nostalgia but also a means of cultural rehabilitation.

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EducationFeatured
Zehra Taşkın

The Race to Publish, Publication Pressures, and Questionable Practices: Rethinking the System

In today’s academia, the lines between the identity of a researcher devoted to following the trail of knowledge and the identity of a performance-driven academic focused solely on producing publications are increasingly blurred. For many scholars, publishing is no longer just a contribution to science but a mandatory step for climbing the academic career ladder. This is not a matter of individual choice, it is deeply structural. Evaluation systems that reward where research is published rather than the quality of the process itself are a major driver of this shift.

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FeaturedTranslation
Jiawei Xu

Unlocking the Secrets of Interdisciplinary Research: How Blending Fields Shapes Scientific Impact

Science thrives on innovation, and interdisciplinary research (IDR)—which merges ideas from multiple fields—is often celebrated as a driver of breakthroughs. Nonetheless, a landmark study analyzing over a million journal articles reveals that the benefits of IDR are far from universal. Success hinges on the academic discipline, the effort required to weave ideas together, and how knowledge spreads through the scientific community over time.

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EducationFeaturedOriginal
Azeez Adeoye

Fear, Concern, and Collapse of Artificial Intelligence Tools: Perspectives of an Academia

Technology is not a bad invention, but the inability to be human after its adoption and use is what is challenging human existence. Young adults see technology as demi-gods and adore AI without employing critical thinking. Despite their digital nativeness, there is a lack of skills to critically interrogate AI tools and decipher their output or results. Many young adults do not know that AI is prone to error, stemming from the large language models (LLM) upon which it operates. Therefore, there is a greater need for critical digital literacy skills — now more than ever.

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