April 2022 140C&RL News 

Welcome to the April 2022 issue of C&RL News. We start out this month’s issue with 
highlights and key findings from the “2020 ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics 
Survey.” ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey Editorial Board members 
Elizabeth Brown and Jeannette E. Pierce take a dive into the survey results, focusing on the 
impact of COVID-19 on academic libraries, trends in references and instruction, and EDI 
initiatives, including recruitment and retention. For a deeper dive into the state of academic 
libraries, watch for the 2022 edition of ACRL’s biennial “Top trends in academic libraries” article, 
coming up in the June issue of C&RL News.

Related to recruitment and retention initiatives, Lori Chapin, Annie Nguyen, Jovonah 
Kramer, Hayden Dutro, and Elias Tzoc of Miami University write about their efforts and 
experiences with diversifying the student workforce in their library in “Intentional diversity in the 
Makerspace.” 

With academic hiring season in full swing for the next academic year, Russell Michalak, 
Monica D.T. Rysavy, Melanie Hawks, Lis Pankl, and Jeff Bullington provide a variety of useful 
“Tips and tricks to negotiating during an interview for early to mid-career librar-ians,” originally 
presented in an ACRL Membership Committee webcast last year.

The impact of open access implementation trends and policies on the Global South in 
general, and African scholarship specifically, is the subject of this month’s Scholarly Com-
munication column. Reggie Raju and Jill Claassen of the University of Cape Town Libraries 
discuss “Open access: From hope to betrayal.”

Courtney Stine of the University of Louisville’s Bridwell Art Library writes about her use of 
Wikipedia editing as a classroom tool to teach threshold concepts in “Crowdsourced 
pedagogy,” the latest installment of our Perspectives on the Framework column.

Librarians at Queens College recently undertook a “A-Z Database List review” in order to 
improve the usefulness of a discovery tool. Sonali Sugrim outlines the development and 
implementation of the project this issue.

Make sure to check out the other great features and departments this month, including recent 
ACRL Board of Directors’ actions and a Washington Hotline column on the launch of the 
Airwaves for Equity coalition, focused on securing sustainable funding for initiatives designed to 
promote digital literacy and inclusion.

Thanks as always for reading the News!
—David Free, editor-in-chief, dfree@ala.org

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