Maintaining digital collections with declining resources, fewer staff

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe methods for restructuring workflows and efficiently using staff members and volunteers to continue work on multiple, simultaneous digital collections as budgets and resources decline. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes one library’s varied approaches to several digital collections supported by literature or volunteers in libraries. Findings – In the face of continually declining resources and new, time-sensitive priorities and compliance responsibilities, librarians can continue to maintain digital collections by modifying workflows, using the services of volunteers and communicating strategically. Practical implications – This paper is relevant to librarians, archivists and others who are looking for ways to justify and capitalize on the use of unconventional personnel in digital collections programs. Originality/value – This paper presents a case of the successful use of volunteers to accomplish digital collections-related tasks in an academic library and provides a communication-based strategy for addressing some of the challenges related to volunteers in academic libraries

Academic Library Leadership and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Prior to the pandemic academic library leadership faced a host of challenges, such as budget shortfalls, serials crisis, shifting and evolving technologies and patron expectations. These long-term obstacles were compounded by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic which required library deans and directors to implement ever evolving safety measures while balancing the needs of library employees, students, faculty, and staff. The mental health of academic librarians and staff has long been the subject of research; however, few studies focused on the mental health experiences of academic library deans and directors. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis is to describe the experiences of academic library deans and directors through the early months of the pandemic and to utilize those data to help library leadership manage their own mental health while assisting their employees’ well-being during future crises