Academic librarians have various opinions on the importance of advanced-subject degrees in addition to a master’s in library science (MLS). The authors conducted an online survey to collect opinions from academic librarians on this topic. Arguments in favor of having advanced-subject degrees include development of research skills, credibility, and overall improved job performance. Arguments against it include the fact that the MLS is—and should continue to be—our terminal degree, inadequate salaries, and the validity of developing subject expertise via other means. The need for advanced-subject degrees may vary by many factors, including individual career goals and local institutional culture.

Purpose -The authors teach a three-credit, upper-division, information literacy (IL) course to students in various majors. The purpose of this paper is to share the various philosophies and activities the authors use to engage their students and create a cohesive interdisciplinary course and to describe the various assessment tools utilized. Design/methodology/approach -In this case study, the authors give specific examples of engaging assignments and methods for evaluating student work in a credit-bearing IL course. Findings -It is found that if students are engaged, and effective assessment tools are employed, library credit instruction in a face-to-face setting with upper-classmen from diverse majors is an impactful way to teach IL. Practical implications -This article provides ideas on how to use a topical theme in teaching an interdisciplinary IL credit course; concrete approaches on engaging students in an IL course; and new strategies for assessing an IL credit-bearing course. Many of the engagement and assessment methods the authors share may also be applied to one-shot instruction sessions. Originality/value -The paper provides a practical case study of the authors' experiences engaging students and assessing their work in an upper level, three-credit, face-to-face class, a type of course not well represented in the information literacy literature at this point in time.

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The intent of this case study was to gain insight into the information needs and research behaviors of upper-division performing arts students, and how to best address those needs. This article presents findings from focus group interviews of thirty music, dance, and theater majors at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The data revealed several themes, including that performing arts students have unmet multimedia, primary, and interdisciplinary research needs and that they struggle with the discovery layer and the catalog. The findings have implications for how library instruction and research services should evolve to serve this population.

How libraries affect student success has become an increasingly important question to many academic librarians. To investigate this phenomenon, we explored student success via two approaches in this multimethod study: 1) through individual student interviews to capture the student voice; and 2) through hierarchical linear and logistic modeling of institutional data to capture the institutional perspective. Through the qualitative component, students articulated how they define success and how the library contributes to their success, especially in terms of providing a sense of belonging and facilitating the work of a community of scholars. The quantitative data provides additional context by demonstrating a small positive correlation between use of library resources and student persistence, further highlighting the community building impact of the libraries.