PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide an overview of social justice research in library and information science (LIS) literature in order to identify the research quantity, what populations or settings were included and future directions for this area of the discipline through examination of when related research was published, what contexts it covered and what contributions LIS researchers have made in this research area.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviews results from two LIS literature databases—Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) and Library and Information Science Source (LISS)—that use the term “social justice” in title, abstract or full text to explicitly or implicitly describe their research.FindingsThis review of the literature using the term social justice to describe LIS research recognizes the significant increase in quantities of related research over the first two decades of the 21st century as well as the emergence of numerous contexts in which that research is situated. The social justice research identified in the literature review is further classified into two primary contribution categories: indirect action (i.e. steps necessary for making change possible) or direct action (i.e. specific steps, procedures and policies to implement change).Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study provide a stronger conceptualization of the contributions of existing social justice research through examination of past work and guides next steps for the discipline.Practical implicationsThe conceptualizations and related details provided in this study help identify gaps that could be filled by future scholarship.Originality/valueWhile social justice research in LIS has increased in recent years, few studies have explored the landscape of existing research in this area.

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Innovations are critical for public libraries but rarely does any primary research study the scope and interpretation of the term “innovation” by public libraries. Also, few of the existing innovation typologies are based on data collected from public libraries. This study fills in the gap by eliciting 80 innovations reported by the administrators of 108 award-winning public libraries in the United States, and proposes the first organic classification of innovations for public libraries, with the following four types of innovations: Program (access-oriented/use-oriented), Process (efficiency-driven/effectiveness-driven), Partnership (internal/external), and Technology (web-based technologies/assistive technologies/artificial intelligence). Findings can advance the state of innovations in libraries.

This article presents a national study of how small and rural public libraries supported social connectedness among older adults in the United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Results suggest that small and rural libraries employed five approaches to stay connected with older adults. Results further show that small and rural public libraries see establishing stronger inter-organizational partnerships with other institutions that serve older adults as a top priority. These results suggest a need for bolstering continuing education and professional opportunities focused on embedding public librarians more firmly into the broader field of practice of supporting aging in America.