Choice announces the tenth publication in a series of white papers designed to provide actionable intelligence around topics of importance to the academic library community. The paper, “The Optimized Library: Prescriptive Foundations for Resource Stewardship in an Era of Fiscal Austerity,” will show academic libraries how to navigate fiscal threats by bridging library science and operations research.

Sam Suber, the Electronic Resources Coordinator at Moraine Valley Community College Library, researched and wrote this report. Through case studies and by translating operational research concepts into practical collection strategies, he shows how the wealth of data libraries collect, paired with the right mathematical framework, can help transform difficult decisions into strategic actions that maximize institutional value. His optimization-driven methodology demonstrates how libraries can navigate ever-tightening budgetary constraints without losing sight of their missions.

Commenting on the publication of the latest white paper, Daniel Pfeiffer, editor of Choice and LibTech Insights, noted, “Austerity is the difficult reality many libraries are facing. Sam’s work isn’t about ‘making the best out of a bad situation,’ but about creating a strong, defensible position for libraries that bolsters their needs, self-advocacy, and sustainability.”

Access the complimentary white paper on the Choice website.

Describe yourself in three words: Inquisitive, collaborative, empathetic.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? Hi Zev! I am deep in the Dungeon Crawler Carl cult, so I’m on my 3rd listen of the series. I love speculative fiction. I’m currently re-reading the Parable of the Sower, listening to Swan Song, and am really enjoying my signed copy of We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune (compliments of ALA Annual in Chicago!). Give me a disaster, an alien, a pandemic, or a speculative technology and I’m all-in.

Describe ACRL in three words: Informative, accessible, innovative.

What do you value about ACRL? I appreciate the fact that my participation in ACRL can grow with my career. I started out as a government documents librarian, worked as a leader in rare books and archives, and am now directing a department of library liaisons. In each of these roles, there has been an opportunity for me to explore a new side of ACRL. I can participant in different groups and always meet new colleagues and learn something new.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? I dabble in so many things! That’s the best part of the job. I spend a lot of my time looking for opportunities for the liaisons in my department to collaborate or participate in projects that further incorporate the library into campus life. I also teach, provide research support, participate in outreach, purchase resources, and spend much of my time communicating with faculty, staff, and students across campus. I sit on a campus-wide student success community of practice and I really enjoy collaborating on these types of projects with colleagues across campus. From my first day here at Illinois State University, I’ve felt like a respected member of the campus community.

In your own words: Academic librarianship is such a rich and rewarding career. While I try to avoid vocational awe, I really think there is something special about this job. I love being part of campus life and feel like I’ve never stopped learning.

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 ACRL Fostering Change program is recruiting a cohort of 5-7 facilitators to help our current team create and offer new professional development and engagement opportunities.

Fostering Change began in 2020 with the publication of Fostering Change: A Team-Based Guide. In 2021 and 2022, ACRL offered 12-week cohorts for institutional teams undergoing a change process. In 2024, cohorts returned as a 9-week, individual professional development program offered every summer, Fostering Change for Academic Library Leaders.

Fostering Change is dedicated to giving academic librarians the tools needed to spark, lead, and sustain change. We are seeking new facilitators to create professional development programs that offer the strategies and ethos of the program and supplement the annual summer cohort. Two or more of the new facilitators will assume running the cohort in summer 2028.

Desired Skills, Experience, and Knowledge

We are looking for program facilitators who can help to design and implement learning programs that supplement the annual Fostering Change cohort. Applicants with different experiences and backgrounds and at different stages of their career are welcome. We are particularly interested in applicants who have:

• Experience with or knowledge of change management strategies.
• Facilitation experience.
• Experience with or knowledge of equity-centered design or participatory design.
• Experience with or knowledge of inclusive and/or anti-racist change strategies.
• Experience or interest in change management among diverse groups of library workers.
• Collaborative project planning experience.

Expectations of Fostering Change Program Facilitators

• Active engagement and collaboration in creating new professional development programs under the Fostering Change program, to potentially include vehicles like webcasts, courses, and ACRL RoadShows. This requires active commitment throughout the year to participate in online meetings and meet timelines established by your colleagues and ACRL.
• Participate in assessment of the programs and incorporate feedback into the design of subsequent learning experiences.
• Shadow the 2027 Fostering Change for Academic Library Leaders cohort and select 2-3 facilitators to present the 2028 cohort.
• Facilitators receive an honorarium for developing and presenting programs.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted electronically as a single PDF document. Please reach out if you need to submit in an alternative format. To apply, please prepare the following materials:

• A 1-3 page cover letter that introduces yourself and your change management philosophy. It should describe why you would like to be a Fostering Change Facilitator and what experience you bring that would further the development of the program as described above. Feel free to share successful change management stories.
• Your resume or CV.

The single PDF application must be submitted via email by 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday, October 30, 2026, to ACRL Senior Acquisitions Editor Erin Nevius at enevius@ala.org. Finalists will be interviewed virtually by members of ACRL’s New Roles and Changing Landscapes Committee and ACRL staff.

Questions can be directed to Erin Nevius at enevius@ala.org.

The Trump administration recently proposed changes to the long-standing accreditation process that seek to upend the current system. Many higher education institutions rely on federal financial aid to make higher education accessible to a wider range of students, so the impacts of this could be significant.

For context, all colleges and universities in the United States must meet accreditation standards to receive federal financial aid (including student loans and Pell Grants), ensuring that institutions maintain academic quality, financial stability, and student support, among other measures. Accreditation establishes baseline quality standards and is determined by independent accrediting agencies, like the American Bar Association for law schools or the American Library Association for library schools. Accreditors have historically been granted freedom from government oversight to set their own standards.

What are the specific changes being proposed? In August, the Department of Education issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that seeks to “revise the existing accrediting agency recognition regulations” in line with the Trump administration’s political agenda. In practical terms, this raises the following key points of concern, which panelist Mike Gavin outlined during the webinar, and which Jeremy Bauer-Wolf also delineates in his “Cheat Sheet” for New America:

1. Rendering peer review, which has been crucial for regulation, optional
2. Lowering the requirements and waiting period for new accreditors’ approval
3. Vaguely defining academic freedom and granting the Department of Education the power to override an accreditor’s enforcement decisions
4. Requiring accreditors to enforce intellectual diversity, which is defined in political terms (i.e., fostering more conservative ideas on campuses)
5. Weaponizing civil rights by ensuring that accreditors require institutions to uphold the administration’s anti-DEI views, essentially functioning as its “DEI police”

To help academic librarians figure out how to best respond to the proposed changes, the webinar brought together Mike Gavin, CEO of the Alliance for Higher Education, and Lisa Varga, Chief Advocacy Officer for ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office, for a discussion moderated by ACRL President and Dean of the Georgetown University Library, Dr. Alexia Hudson-Ward.

Individuals and organizations were invited to submit public comments on the proposed changes until September 21, 2026, and both Gavin and Varga encouraged attendees to do so, given what’s at stake. To facilitate the process, the Alliance for Higher Education even created a Public Comment Toolkit, though Gavin urged respondents to personalize their responses as much as possible. As Dr. Hudson-Ward noted from the outset of the session, “accreditation may sometimes seem removed from the day-to-day work of libraries, but it is deeply connected to how our institutions demonstrate educational quality, effectiveness, and student success.”

At the crux of this issue is the fact that conditioning accreditation, and by extension federal student aid, on an institution’s ideological compliance (e.g., by discarding DEI) is a “blatant [attempt] to keep working-class Americans and people of color from accessing higher education and a better life,” as Gavin asserted during the webinar. He further contended that “DEI is being used as a dog whistle to further marginalize people who have been completely marginalized.”

Tying this back to the ongoing attacks on intellectual and academic freedom that ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has been tracking, Varga noted that the proposed changes fit into the “wholesale … effort to remove entire swaths of information” that they’re witnessing, which is especially damaging at the academic level. Attesting to the severity of this situation, attendee Bethany Jennings, a professor at Delaware Law School, Widener University, pointed out that “the ABA, which is [the] current law school accreditor, recently removed specific requirements for library collections and the result has been that several law libraries have drastically reduced collections and budgets.” Attendee Amy Filiatreau of the University of Mary Washington also shared in the chat that she sees “this as equivalent to No Child Left Behind—removing standards requiring libraries in K–12—and now a lot of areas don’t have school librarians at all. This could [mean] academic librarians/libraries going away entirely if this goes through.” The similarity, she later attested, has also been expressed by others in the profession.

Varga argued that the best way to respond in this moment is to file a comment to defend not only your institution but also the future of academic freedom. In response to some attendees expressing fear of retaliation, the panelists pointed out that comments could be submitted anonymously and further underscored the importance of submitting as many as possible. Sentiments clearly shifted after that, with a renewed commitment to sharing comments expressed by almost all. When one attendee asked about possible avenues for litigation, seeing that as a more effective means of challenging the rule change than public comments, Gavin remarked that those opportunities likely won’t arise until a year or two down the line, when faculty and students start seeing their academic freedom actively infringed upon by the rule change. When that time comes, both he and Varga noted that the comments submitted now will be crucial for building the case against the rule change by establishing the harm it causes. “You may not see the impact of your effort for quite a while, but this effort actually could make a huge difference,” Gavin contended, as he urged attendees to issue as many public comments as possible, and more importantly, to make them as specific as possible.

To end the session, both Varga and Gavin reaffirmed that librarians are ideally positioned to positively impact this issue by leveraging their experience, knowledge, and skills. Across the board, librarians are committed to upholding academic integrity, freedom, and diversity, and their collective voices can be powerful.

The webinar is now available below and streaming on YouTube for anyone who missed it or would like to rewatch it. Viewers can also sort through the full archive of past ACRL Presents webcasts on ACRL’s YouTube channel.

Describe yourself in three words: Creative, extrovert, inquisitive.

What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? Currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, and Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey.

Describe ACRL in three words: Development, leadership, framework.

What do you value about ACRL? ACRL provides the opportunity to connect with librarians across the country, allowing us to learn and grow together. The skills I’ve gained from ACRL enhance not only my own librarianship, but also allow me to improve my library. It encourages us to discover all areas of academic librarianship beyond our chosen specialties.

What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? As a Research and Instruction library, my role is to encourage the exploration of information. I want to ensure that students (and faculty) have the skillset needed to go beyond the classroom and become lifelong learners. In the age of AI, I always encourage critical thinking over outsourcing to the latest trends. My goal in every interaction is to make sure something is learned, whether it is how to evaluate a source, or where the staplers are (table by the elevator).

In your own words: I’m not in this for the money (obviously). I love helping people discover new things. As librarians we are consistently innovating, whether it is learning, then teaching a new technology or a new concept, we embrace the change. The fluidity of our vocation allows us to always be essential to the academic world.

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!