1. The idea of the library being central or indispensable to the existence and functioning of the college/university has often been asserted. Indeed, Louis Shores claims that higher education in The United States began with a library. See Louis Shores, Origins of the American College Library 1638–1800 (Hamden, CT: The Shoe String Press, Inc., 1966), p. 11. Deborah J. Grimes, on the other hand, tests the validity of this centrality in an elaborate study that examines old perceptions and new expectations. See Deborah J. Grimes, Academic Library Centrality: User Success through Service, Access, and Tradition (Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 1998). Grimes concludes with what she sees as a clearer, more practical, and realistic perception of centrality, expressed in the concept of the “crossroads community” (pp. 116–122).
2. The teaching department should be distinct from bibliographic instruction or library orientation and involve the cultivation of information literacy skills.
3. Included in that analysis are college and university administrators, who display attitudes and biases toward librarians that similar to those of teaching faculty.
4. Robert T. Ivey, “Research Notes: Teaching Faculty Perceptions of Academic Librarians at Memphis State University,” College & Research Libraries 55 (January 1994): 69–82.
5. Walt Crawford suggested this in his observation that many library professionals appear to be ashamed of librarianship and libraries. See Walt Crawford, “We Call Them Libraries: What the ‘L’ Word Means to Me,” American Libraries 30 (November 1999): 38, 40.