Gone and Mostly Forgotten: A Slice of Academic Librarianship’s Professional Past

Abstract

Librarians of a certain era may remember Library Issues. From 1980 through 2016, Mountainside Publishing published five or six issues per year on the prevailing academic library issues of the day. What made this publication unique is that it was not written for an audience of academic librarians. Rather, Library Issues was intentionally designed for the needs of academic administrators who needed a quick introduction to and insight into any library matter. The intended reader was likely the provost or president, depending to whom the library dean or director reported. Library Issues served as the library dean or director’s go-to publication to make the case for additional resources. No doubt there were issues that went right to stacks or waste bin. Library leaders sometimes have their reasons for choosing to make sure the academic leadership is better off being kept in the dark on a particular issue. Though less intentionally intended for the academic library practitioner, the issues served as timely primers on a host of topics for the library audience.