This paper describes how Arizona State University Library used creativity and novel approaches to collections design and implementation processes to select open stack print books for a newly renovated academic research library. Using results from a workshop focused on rethinking the future of print within educational learning and research environments, the Collections Services and Analysis unit within Arizona State University Library performed a series of experiments to better understand the purpose and use of print collections within 21st century library design. The authors describe the creative processes used in collections design and three types of selection approaches that invited engagement with open stacks. These three types were: small browsing collections co-curated with community members, a medium-sized print collection selected for student engagement, and a large research collection selected using a novel data analysis of four factors affecting the likelihood of potential use. Using more than one million volumes as the basis for selection, approximately 185,000 volumes were installed in the renovated library through a complex implementation across four library locations. The authors discuss the key role that creativity played in the approaches, methods, and results of these efforts and offer recommendations for collection management teams seeking to maximize their pursuit of community engagement with print collections within contemporary academic library spaces.

As advocates, government information librarians speak up for collections and services within an institution, to peers and to administrators. We collaborate on projects that improve access and preservation for these resources. We pursue public policy advocacy that improves access to government information, which can include requests for changes in policy and practice that promote transparency, as well as funding requests that support information dissemination and preservation. We also advocate within professional communities for resources to support our work.

Technological innovation has fostered structural shifts in scholarly communications and cooperation among academic institutions over time. The shift into ubiquitous digital content ushered in transformational changes to research and teaching. The change presents an opportunity for libraries to transform themselves as well, rethinking how we select, display, share, and curate creative, scholarly, and informational works in all formats. People who use academic libraries have great interest in where these works reside, how they are accessed, and how their future is ensured. We at Arizona State University (ASU) Library propose that the bookless library model represents an unfulfilled promise to those we serve. Instead, we posit that academic libraries can still host tangible materials in multiple formats while adapting a user-focused and intentional design approach to scholarly works, keeping them in openly accessible shelves in our buildings, even as we increase available study space. Open stacks, available for viewing and browsing by the public, offer an intentionally designed, material experience as a key component of space design. They also remind us that not all knowledge exists in digital form.

Arizona State University is embracing new ways of thinking about how open stacks can make books active objects of engagement for a new generation of students, rather than risk becoming mere backdrops for study spaces. By taking a deliberate design approach to answering the question of which books and where, ASU Library seeks to position print collections as an engagement mechanism. This chapter presents the transformative potential of open stacks, along with planning for access, assessment and inclusive engagement. The authors describe how ASU Library is using a major library renovation project as a catalyst to explore these ideas, and propose a pathway to developing shared solutions for more effective use of library collections.

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) is a longstanding, geographically distributed partnership between a network of libraries and the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). The goal of the FDLP is to provide permanent no-fee public access to federal government information. Academic and research libraries make up the bulk of participants in the program and are essential to achieving this objective.

The combined force of the rapidly changing landscape for academic library collections and services, and the transition of government information resources to be almost entirely web-based, has led to the need and opportunity for the FDLP to adapt. Advocating for modernization and change from within the program is a community effort, and a variety of strategies can – and have – achieved meaningful change. Countering the traditional narrative that change to federal agency programs requires Congressional intervention, we see in practice that the FDLP is responsive to community engagement and relies on knowledgeable professionals serving as advocates both in formally appointed roles and as community leaders acting within professional associations and as part of independent organizations.

This chapter will highlight ways in which the FDLP has changed in response to community advocacy, discussing methods that individual advocates and organizations of varying sizes can use to have influence on the direction of the program. We will describe the changing trajectory of the Depository Library Council, the committee that formally advises the GPO Director and the Superintendent of Documents, which has shifted over the last two decades to encompass policy issues as well as operational practices. We will also present a recent successful, non-legislative advocacy route that has brought about significant reprioritization and change to the future direction of the program – the GPO Director’s Task Force to Study the Feasibility of a Digital FDLP, which in just under a year researched and wrote a report recommending considerations and methods for transitioning to a digital program.

Active participation in the modern FDLP is a crucial means by which academic and research libraries can serve the current and future needs of researchers, teachers, and learners. The sustainability and effectiveness of this program is therefore a public policy issue that affects the interests of academic libraries; fortunately, there are many avenues to advocacy that can make a lasting impact on the FDLP as a public good. Engaging in advocacy within the FDLP can also align with professional service requirements or expectations for academic appointees, and providing professional expertise to agency representatives steers well clear of most prohibitions on political activity at publicly-funded institutions. By advocating for changes that improve the value proposition and long-term stability of the FDLP, academic and research library workers can support the shared common goods of achievable participation that leads to a stronger FDLP and more access to federal government information for all.