Librarians as Authors in Higher Education and Teaching and Learning Journals in the Twenty-First Century: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The future of academic libraries largely depends on our ability to be innovative, anticipate our users' needs, adapt to a changing landscape, and prove our value through evidence. However, if our higher education colleagues do not perceive the profession as being relevant, our ability to innovate, anticipate, and adapt will be moot. This study investigates the visibility of librarians as authors in scholarly higher education (HE) and teaching and learning (TL) journals between 2000 and 2012. Findings include that 1.38% of articles published in these journals were written by a librarian author or authors, most of who are employed at research institutions. Information literacy was the most common topic, and theoretical articles were the most popular article type.