The role of the academic librarian in online courses: A case study

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the number of college students in the United States learning virtually to an all-time high, leading the services that academic librarians provide to students enrolled in online courses to become more crucial than ever before. According to EducationData.org, some estimates show that 3278 higher education institutions and 22.3 million students have been impacted by a switch to online courses. The current study utilized an online survey of students, faculty, as well as academic librarians at The University of Southern Mississippi regarding the use of librarians in online courses. Questions focused on what library services are currently being provided for online students, what strategies for incorporating librarians into online courses have been utilized, and gathered perspectives from faculty, students, and librarians themselves in order to better establish best practices for providing the growing number of online students with the library services they need.