Yearly Archives: 2026

Call for an assistant editor

From the editors

Note: As of August 24, 2026, we have enough expressions of interest.

The Journal of Creative Library Practice (JCLP) is an open access LIS journal published by a small cadre of librarians who met through the Library Society of the World (https://librarysociety.info/how-to-join-the-lsw/). It is currently hosted on a WordPress website. While the journal operates on a shoestring budget, we aim to provide access to the widest possible readership at the lowest cost. Please read more at https://creativelibrarypractice.org/about/.

We are recruiting an assistant editor (or two) for our editorial board. This is a great opportunity to get experience in open access publishing.

This journal celebrates the practice of librarianship. It provides a place for librarians to document innovative approaches to our work, because we are not only creative in our workplaces, we also believe in sharing ideas. For every small discovery or big new project in a library, there are librarians elsewhere eager to learn from it. Most submitted content are peer-reviewed papers and non-peer-reviewed essays. JCLP has been committed to open access and CC-BY licensing since 2013.

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Subject Librarians’ Perceptions of Collection Work in a Changing Academic Library

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , , , ,

Lizzie Cope
ORCID: 0000-0003-4800-103X
Assistant Professor and Assessment Projects Librarian
University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries

Luke McDonald
ORCID: 0009-0009-8832-3296
Assistant Professor and Electronic Resources Librarian
University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries

Alexander Harriman
ORCID: 0000-0003-3809-1588
Collections Data Analyst
University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries

Kat Brooks
ORCID: 0000-0003-0568-5179
Assistant Professor and Collections Strategist
University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries

Abstract

Subject librarians, also called subject liaisons, liaison librarians, and subject specialists, have seen many changes through the years at academic libraries. Subject librarians face a new world of functional expertise and data driven decision making. Twelve subject librarians at an academic library were interviewed to uncover how they perceive themselves in the development and maintenance of library collections. Overall, findings suggest that while they recognize the support and collaboration available from technical services staff, they feel undervalued by the library at large. Misalignment, inconsistent communication and professional isolation are found to contribute toward feelings of distrust in leadership and frame the perception of collaboration between units within the library.

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On Cataloging and Life

Essay, ,

Sarah Theimer
Description and Discovery Strategy Librarian
University of New Hampshire

Introduction

Essay writing is a well established method of reflection and understanding. Library workers often do not have time to process the meaning that surrounds their work. The rush to get work done and on to the next thing, competing demands, and outside commitments all compete for attention and energy. These essays use writing as method for understanding professional practice. They record thoughts about cataloging and discovery work. They enable meaning to emerge through details and reflection. The essays do not tell people how to catalog or how they should feel about cataloging. They provide a way of recognizing how meaning is generated in library work through attention to systems, constraints, and decision-making.

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Participation Without Pressure: Two Case Studies in Passive Library Engagement

Essay, , ,

Alyssa Kowis, Collegiate Librarian & Librarian Assistant Professor
Kelli Anne Gecawich, Assessment Librarian & Librarian Assistant Professor
Dr. Kristina Clement, Assistant Director of Academic Engagement & Instruction, Collegiate Librarians & Librarian Associate Professor
Kennesaw State University

Introduction

Academic libraries continue to expand outreach and engagement efforts in response to shifting student needs, evolving service models, and persistent challenges in making library value visible. These challenges are often amplified in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) focused environments where time constraints, academic workloads, and help-seeking patterns can make traditional outreach programming ineffective. At the same time, academic libraries need outreach and engagement strategies that do not always require a high time commitment from students, or continuous employee mediation, while still generating usable insight that can inform services, collections, and student success initiatives.

This paper examines low-tech, high-visibility passive outreach as a pragmatic response to a central tension in STEM library engagement: the desire for richer insight into students’ library needs and preferences versus the reality that higher-effort or socially exposed outreach methods can suppress participation. Following a brief literature review about academic library outreach, STEM outreach, and passive engagement or micro-assessment strategies, we present two complementary case studies. The first examines #ProjectWhiteboard, a portable whiteboard prompt initiative implemented at the Lane Library on Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus, documenting how a simple feedback mechanism evolved into a sustained community-building fixture. The second case study examines the Johnson Library Sticker Survey Project on the Kennesaw State University’s STEM (Marietta) campus, which adapts prompt-based engagement into a sticker “micro-survey” format designed to reduce effort further and broaden participation. Together, these cases demonstrate how pairing an established engagement method with a less-explored micro-survey variant offers practice-informed evidence for sustainable, assessment-minded outreach approaches in STEM-focused library contexts.

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King Spud Has Been Kidnapped: Using the Mystery Genre and Serious Games to Teach Information Literacy to Undergraduate Students

Peer-Reviewed Article, , , , , ,

Celia Hagey
Instruction and User Services Librarian
University of Idaho Library

Abstract

This article details an instructional academic librarian’s experience designing and teaching a mystery-themed information literacy workshop entitled “Mystery at the U of I Library.” The workshop is a form of game-based teaching known as a serious game. Serious games have been documented in scholarly writing since 1970 and implemented in educational settings ranging from elementary schools, high schools, and universities, using creative designs such as role-play games, card games, and video games. Educators in the fields of mathematics, science, and healthcare have published case studies on their use of mystery-based serious games, but representation of mystery-based games to teach information literacy is sparse. This article contributes insights on the value of creating a mystery-based information literacy workshop for undergraduate students at a mid-size public university, describing the author’s design process, experience teaching the workshop, and professional growth throughout the whole process. Other instructional librarians will find recommendations and advice for implementing their own mystery-based workshop. Overall, the workshop engaged students and revealed areas where students continue to struggle with information literacy skills, while stretching the author’s imagination and instructional ability.

Continue reading King Spud Has Been Kidnapped: Using the Mystery Genre and Serious Games to Teach Information Literacy to Undergraduate Students →