Excerpt: The baby boomer generation is larger than any generation that has preceded it. Boomers are more likely to live longer and better than previous generations, and they have changed jobs more often than previous generations. They understand the necessity and have the desire to be life-long learners.

Purpose: Research productivity is often counted as a major factor in evaluations and promotion. Librarians have had to find a way to pursue research along with performing job duties and professional service. Collaborative research can provide an effective solution for busy librarians who need to show a record of research. Additionally, it can be a cost‐effective means for library administrators to promote library faculty output in the face of reduced travel and research budgets. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach: In developing their research group, the authors began with a small, informal collaboration on an article describing new staffing models for library outreach. As the writing of the article proceeded, the group developed a more formal structure. As that article reached completion, the purpose of the group expanded to that of fostering creativity and following creative leads to a publishable (or presentable) conclusion. Findings: In the two years during which the writing group has been working together, it has produced four articles and nine presentations, with several in‐progress efforts. In addition, the writing group has encouraged members to develop individual projects for presentation and publication outside of the group's scope. Practical implications: The authors offer recommendations to other professionals interested in forming collaborative writing groups and to library administrators interested in encouraging their staffs to develop productive working relationships. Originality/value: Few articles have been written about collaboration among librarians to promote their own research and publication. The authors describe in this paper an informal, yet highly effective means to foster faculty research productivity.

Abstract available through The Fifteenth Distance Library Services Conference Proceedings.

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East Tennessee State University developed a workflow to add journal publications to their institutional repository and faculty profiles using three tools: Zotero for entering metadata, SHERPA/RoMEO for checking copyright permissions, and Unpaywall for locating full-text documents. This study evaluates availability and accuracy of the information and documents provided by Zotero, SHERPA/RoMEO, and Unpaywall for journal publications in four disciplines. The tools were less successful with works authored by arts and humanities and education faculty in comparison to works authored by medicine and health sciences and social and behavioral sciences faculty. The findings suggest that publisher practices contributed to the disciplinary differences.

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Awards or grant programs are a common way for higher education institutions to incentivize the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and other affordable course materials. This study evaluates the results of a two-year pilot OER awards program at East Tennessee State University. To assess the awards program, we used data from student savings and program costs, grades, drop-fail-withdrawal (DFW) rates, and survey results compiled within the COUP framework (Cost, Outcomes, Usage, and Perception). The initial monetary return on investment was moderately positive, while the grades and DFW rates remained steady. The faculty and students rated the open and affordable materials as well as the OER awards program favorably but expressed some issues with using and implementing open and affordable resources. Based on these results, we determined that the awards program was worth the costs and efforts but needed improvements specifically to address the faculty’s feedback around the lack of time to implement OER and the absence of OER for their courses.

In 2017, the Sherrod Library at East Tennessee State University launched the Library Ambassador Program (LAP), a peer-reference program through which trained undergraduate students employed by the library are stationed in buildings across campus to help students with their research. Just as the LAP was gaining traction, COVID-19 forced a quick transition to online mode. This presentation will discuss the value we found in shifting our program online and how the LAP functions now in a hybrid space, supporting information literacy both online and in-person across campuses. Participants wishing to develop their own peer-mentoring program will come away with practical tips on creating an information literacy curriculum designed for a hybrid environment and implementing a hybrid service model for peer-reference help.