ACRL announces the publication of Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge edited by Scott R. DiMarco, Lisandra R. Carmichael, and Courtney Heatley, offering ways to turn an independent organization steeped in its own procedures and mission into a merged library that is effective, cohesive, and student-centered.

University and college mergers are increasingly common, and merging institutions have consequences for and demand new skills from their academic libraries. In three sections, Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge provides strategies for integrating collections, systems, and teams while maintaining critical library operations from authors who have undergone a merger.

• Preparing to Merge
• The New Integrated Culture
• Managing Change

The key to every merger is almost always the same: People and culture working together to get the job done and, in the process, creating a new culture. Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge can help you confront the past, adapt to the present, and strategize for a sustainable future.

Integrating Academic Libraries When Institutions Merge is available for purchase in print through the ALA Online Store and Amazon.com; as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; via EBSCO, ProQuest, and other ebook vendors; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the U.S. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

Describe yourself in three words: Persistent, introspective, loyal.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I just taught Ronit Stahl’s Enlisting Faith, so that’s the book that I read most recently. I’m currently slowly reading Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation for fun.

Describe ACRL in three words: Advocate, essential, community.

What do you value about ACRL? ACRL (and other professional organizations) help us escape our institutional silos. In addition to fostering greater collaboration, often leading to friendship, these communities provide us with some much needed perspective. It makes us better at our jobs and, at least for me, it provides a lot of comfort.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? I hope that students, faculty, and outside researchers see me as a partner who will help connect them with the resources they need to achieve their research goals. That could be through collection development, information literacy instruction, reference work, (re)description, or any number of other things. I think I have achieved that objective to some degree but it’s a never ending and always evolving goal.

In your own words: I am exceedingly grateful for the informal mentors I have had over the years. They have helped me find jobs and do those jobs better. I try to pay it forward, but the broader takeaway is the incredible community we have in academic librarianship. 

Editor’s Note: Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!

The 2026-27 ACRL Legislative Agenda focuses on four issues that will be the focus of ACRL’s advocacy efforts, listed in priority order:

1. Impacts to Higher Education
2. Public Access to Reliable Governmental Data
3. Elimination and Reorganization of Federal Agencies & Departments
4. Safety, Security, and Ethical Concerns of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The agenda also includes a watch list of policy issues of great concern to academic librarians. Issues on the watch list are:

1. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA)
2. Consumer Data Privacy
3. Affordable College Textbook Act
4. Accessible Instructional Materials
5. Net Neutrality

The full 2026-27 Legislative Agenda is available on the ACRL website.

The ACRL Board of Directors has approved a revision of the association’s Standards for Libraries in Higher Education (SLHE). SLHE, adopted in 2004 and previously revised in 2011 and 2018, is designed to guide academic libraries in advancing and sustaining their role as partners in educating students, achieving their institutions’ missions, and positioning libraries as leaders in assessment and continuous improvement on their campuses. The standards are a framework for library planning and assessment, particularly in regard to providing guiding principles, performance indicators, outcomes and metrics for libraries to use in a variety of circumstances as they work with faculty and students in higher education setting, achieving and measuring institutional learning outcomes.

A task force comprised of members of the ACRL Value of Academic Libraries Committee reviewed SLHE as part of the usual five-year review process. The resulting revision of SLHE builds upon the foundation of the 2018 document with an added and intentional focus on the role of academic library personnel. The task force used the term library personnel instead of academic librarian or librarian to encompass the full range of staff who contribute to the academic library mission. Recognizing that library expertise is central to advancing teaching, research, and institutional effectiveness, the revised SLHE explicitly emphasizes expectations in core areas such as information literacy, scholarly communication, collection development, and discovery.

This emphasis affirms library personnel, not just as support personnel, but as educators, collaborators, and strategic partners whose contributions are integral to the academic mission. By embedding library personnel expertise into SLHE, the task force aimed to ensure that this professional knowledge is both recognized by university leadership and valued by accreditation teams as a critical dimension of institutional quality.

The Board approved the revised SLHE at its April 30, 2026, virtual meeting. The revised standards are freely available on the ACRL website.

Describe yourself in three words: Curious, enthusiastic, adaptable.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I’m currently enthralled by Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, with a lot of other books on the every-expanding docket. Recently, I finished Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and found that it lived up to the hype, and I’m looking forward to Katabasis (Kuang), Vigil (Saunders), and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Tokarczuk).

Listening to Resistance Rangers and If Books Could Kill to accompany my commutes.

Describe ACRL in three words: Dedicated, supportive, community.

What do you value about ACRL? ACRL provides a community for librarians to identify trends in research, directions in librarianship, and viable solutions to common challenges. It also provides an outlet to share within that community, through books, articles, blogs, and the biannual conference.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? I collaborate with a small scholarly communication team to work with researchers to amplify the reach of their work. Specifically, I manage the library’s publishing program, which provides an no-fee alternative for researchers who want to develop and edit open access journals; I also co-facilitate a professional development program for new faculty, helping them navigate offices and personnel who help their research practices. 

In your own words: About halfway through my PhD program, I had a candid conversation with my advisor about pursuing a career in librarianship or in a history or science & technology studies (STS) department, as though they’re mutually exclusive. I’m glad that I’ve been involved in academic libraries for the past decade, as my approach to librarianship relies a lot on methods and frameworks from STS, both for my own research as well as how I interact with other researchers. 

Editor’s Note: Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch!