nov09a.indd


November 2009 561 C&RL News

In theIn the

Welcome to the November 2009 issue of 
C&RL News. Making the transition from 
K–12 to higher education can be daunting 
for many students. Academic librarians are 
exploring new ways to connect with fi rst-
year students and improve their research 
and information literacy skills. 

At Belmont University in Nashville, librar-
ians aren’t waiting until students enter college 
to reach out to them. They are collaborating 
with area school librarians to open dialogue 
and improve information literacy skills at 
the K–12 level. Courtney Fuson and Jenny 
Rushing describe the program in their article 
“Climbing out of the ‘Ivory Tower.’” 

Collecting materials that appeal to today’s 
freshmen, and incorporating them into the 
classroom, can also help make the academic 
library experience and research process less 
daunting. Portland State University recently 
acquired the archives of Dark Horse Comics 
and is working to expand the reach of the 

school’s comic studies program, Michael 
Bowman, Cristine N. Paschild, and Kimberly 
Willson-St. Clair tell the story of “How the 
dark horse came in” and how the collection 
will impact their institution. You can further 
explore the world of scholarly comic studies 
in this month’s Internet Resources feature by 
Derik A. Badman.

As part of the effort to go where students 
are, instant messaging reference service has 
become commonplace in many academic 
libraries. Craig Anderson provides tips on 
“How to be a person” in virtual reference 
transactions and provide a better experience 
for both librarians and patrons.

Make sure to take a look at all of the other 
great articles and columns, including two new 
ACRL Standards and Guidelines and the call 
for proposals for ACRL 2011 in Philadelphia.-

Thanks for reading the News! 
—David Free, editor-in-chief

dfree@ala.org