For immediate release | February 29, 2024

New from ACRL - “Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library: Designing Spaces, Policies, and Services”

CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces the publication of “Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library: Designing Spaces, Policies, and Services” by Kelsey Keyes and Ellie Dworak, a guide to engaging with and aiding the student parents in your libraries and leading the charge in making your institutions more family friendly.

Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library is part toolkit, part treatise, and part call to action in four parts.

  • The Higher Education Landscape
  • The Role of Academic Libraries
  • Looking Outward to Community, For-Profit, and International Organizations
  • Evaluating Needs and Measuring Success

It includes templates, sample policy language, budgets, survey instruments, and other immediately useful tools and examples. There are field notes from academic librarians from institutions of varying sizes and resources demonstrating different ways of supporting these students, and the voices of students themselves.

Student parents are a socioeconomically, racially, and financially diverse group. What they have in common is the drive to work hard to overcome steep barriers in obtaining a college education.
Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library can help you make these students feel seen and set them up for success.

“Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library: Designing Spaces, Policies, and Services” is available for purchase in print and as an ebook through the ALA Online Store; in print through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the U.S. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.

##

The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for academic libraries and library workers. Representing nearly 8,500 individuals and libraries, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products, and services to help those working in academic and research libraries learn, innovate, and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning, transforming scholarship, and creating diverse and inclusive communities. Find ACRL on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, and YouTube.

Contact:

Erin Nevius

Content Strategist

Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)

enevius@ala.org