Remote work has expanded rapidly, with most research focusing on work from home and offering limited insight into how alternative work environments shape work–life boundary management. This narrative review synthesises research on remote work and boundary management to examine how different work settings influence employee experiences and outcomes. The review identifies five key themes: (1) the role of spatial and temporal flexibility in shaping boundary control; (2) the influence of environmental and social cues on boundary enactment; (3) the potential of alternative remote workplaces outside the home (or ‘third places’) to support boundary management; (4) the behavioural strategies individuals use to manage boundaries across contexts; and (5) the implications of boundary management for wellbeing and work-related outcomes. While existing research highlights the importance of the work environment in shaping boundary dynamics, evidence remains heavily skewed towards home-based work, with limited empirical attention to third places as distinct boundary-supporting environments. As such, the role of these spaces in enabling or constraining boundary management remains underdeveloped and warrants further investigation. By integrating insights across fragmented literatures, this review advances a more contextually grounded understanding of boundary management in remote work and identifies key directions for future research.

A sample of 52 sources were analyzed to investigate how libraries are portrayed in the general media as spaces for remote workers. Features highlighted as advantageous included meeting rooms, booths, quiet zones, and on-site cafes; Wi-Fi, computers, reprographic services, and suitable desks; the quiet, yet social, comfortable, safe and aesthetically pleasing environment; and libraries’ free access and convenient locations. Disadvantages included crowding and noise levels, insecure belongings, inadequate resources, and limited opening hours. The wide range of positive features suggests that remote workers’ needs are varied and complex, as are the ways in which libraries can meet these needs.

This study explores the experiences and perspectives of journal editors in Australia, focusing on their pathways into editorship, required skills, challenges and issues relating to recognition, workload and succession planning. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with 27 editors across a range of disciplines and publishing models, we analyse the critical yet often undervalued role of editors in the scholarly publishing landscape. While editors acknowledged the professional benefits of the role, they also highlighted substantial challenges, including struggles with workload, limited institutional support or recognition and the continued reliance on volunteer labour. The findings reveal tensions arising from the increasing commercialisation of academic publishing, research metrics and the changing demands of academic work. Through a focus on individual experiences, this study contributes new insights into the realities of journal editorship and its implications for academic careers, university workload management and the sustainability of Australian journal publishing.

This study investigates the operational and strategic challenges faced by Australian journal editors. Interviews with 27 editors reveal a complex publishing ecosystem shaped by tensions around editorial independence, financial viability, and scholarly impact. Operational challenges include securing qualified peer reviewers and attracting quality submissions; the latter is considerably influenced by journal ranking, indexation, and reputation. Many editors seek stronger support from publishers, emphasising a need for shared goals, mutual trust, and editorial independence. Successful relationships with publishers often require editors to be proactive and assertive. Strategic challenges include balancing international recognition and local relevance, which leads some journals to remove ‘Australian’ from their titles and diversify editorial boards to attract global submissions. Publishing models vary, with some journals transitioning to commercial publishers for financial and technical support, while others prioritise independence despite operational challenges. Open Access (OA) remains a contested issue, particularly regarding the role of commercial publishers, though many journals have reached a degree of stability in their OA policies. This study also examines the role of editorial boards, the use of journal management systems, relationships with parent bodies, and the strategies editors adopt to navigate these challenges.

As remote and hybrid work become more common, many workers are seeking ‘third places’ -alternative environments outside the home and office - to work and connect. This study explores the role of public libraries as alternative workplaces for remote workers in Australia. Drawing on survey data from 225 remote workers recruited via Prolific, we examine who uses libraries for remote work, how often, and why. Weekly, around eight per cent of respondents use libraries for at least half a day, a rate similar to that for coworking spaces, while a further one in three would consider doing so. Libraries are valued for quietness, affordability, internet access, and a sense of community, but limited privacy and restricted hours remain barriers. The findings highlight the library’s potential to meet workforce needs and offer practical implications for library managers seeking to design spaces and policies that better support remote workers and their wellbeing.

The use of public libraries by remote workers has been little researched, either in Australia or elsewhere. The normalisation of remote work since the COVID pandemic, however, has opened up opportunities for libraries to cultivate this new and growing user group, as many people seek workplace options beyond those of home and corporate office. This study surveyed public libraries in New South Wales and Queensland (n = 97) to investigate the support they currently provide remote workers and how they view this emerging user group. Findings indicate that the level of support varies considerably across libraries, with 61% offering meeting rooms, 44% semi-enclosed spaces and 33% quiet areas. Most respondents agreed that accommodating remote workers enhanced their library's role as a community hub and aligned with its mission to support community development. Associated challenges reported included those of conflicts with other users' interests, and resource constraints. Eighty per cent of libraries reported growth in remote work use since COVID, with over 40% located in the major cities estimated to be used by 20 or more remote workers per week. Despite this, only 6% of all responding libraries were regularly promoting their spaces for remote work purposes.

In a metric-driven publishing landscape, local journals often struggle for visibility and recognition, despite their potential to inform national policy. This study investigates the policy relevance of Australian journals using citation data from the Overton database. By comparing citations in policy documents to Australian-authored articles published in local versus international journals between 2010 and 2022, we find that local journals are more likely to be cited in policy documents, especially those related to Australia. However, the average number of citations per article is lower for local journals, which probably reflects their niche focus and limited international uptake. These findings illustrate the vital but undervalued role national journals play in supporting local scholarship and addressing context-specific issues. We argue that greater institutional support is needed to sustain national publishing ecosystems and prevent the marginalisation of research with local relevance.

Introduction: Ethnography has increasingly been utilised by social science researchers outside of social and cultural anthropology. We report here an analysis of the extent and nature of its use in library studies research over the past decade.Method: Our study adapts and extends a content analysis of library studies literature conducted by Khoo, et al. (2012), using a systematic search process to identify potentially relevant studies published since 2011.Analysis: We coded the resulting corpus to establish whether articles were ethnographic using two interpretations of the term (one broad, one narrower). We also coded other aspects, including specific ethnographic methods used, library sector, country of research, and time in the field. Results: While there remains interest in ethnography, its growth appears to have slowed. We note also that the term ethnographic has been used in this corpus to describe research involving participant observation (the narrower definition) only in 55% of cases. Conclusion: Ethnography remains underutilised in library studies research, particularly in the context of public libraries.

This article presents an evaluation of a three-workshop codesign methodology implemented for two public libraries as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage project, examining the effectiveness of the project's codesign process in supporting participants in design idea generation and expression. Data were collected through post-workshop interviews, participant surveys, and observer field notes. The findings indicated a high level of participant engagement and satisfaction, and the workshops successfully generated actionable ideas and prototypes. However, the findings also emphasised the importance of clear instructions, professional facilitation, and the use of visual tools like 3D floor planning software to enhance participant understanding and engagement. Dominant participant voices, insufficient instruction, and time limitations emerged as barriers, while collaboration and mutual learning amongst staff and users emerged as significant enablers of the codesign process. Recommendations for future codesign workshops include maintaining a balance in the workshop schedule and participant recruitment, allowing adequate time for each workshop, and simplifying activities.

This paper reports on the final stage of an Australian Research Council Linkage research project that examined codesign interventions in two Australian public library refurbishments. The article investigates how codesign outputs influenced final library designs and identifies key considerations for integrating codesign into public library development projects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with council staff and architects involved in finalising the designs for both libraries. A directed content analysis of interview transcripts was used to examine the extent to which codesign outputs were incorporated into final designs and to gather reflections on the codesign process. Findings show that codesign outputs significantly influenced both final designs, in one case accounting for an estimated 80-90% of the final design, and in the other, 70-75%. The codesign process provided valuable community engagement, generated diverse ideas, and helped secure funding support. However, challenges included recruiting diverse participants and managing expectations. The paper presents nineteen practical recommendations for planning codesign interventions in public library settings, which cover areas such as workshop configuration, participant recruitment, professional involvement, and budget considerations. These recommendations will form part of a codesign toolkit for public library staff who seek to engage communities in designing physical library spaces.

It has long been recognized that there are issues with the appropriateness of citations in the academic literature. Citations of sources that do not support the statement they are cited against are known as quotation errors, and there have been many previous studies of their prevalence. The vast majority of these studies rely on researchers evaluating the accuracy of citations in a small sample of the literature, and show large variation in quotation error rates. In this article we report a novel approach to assessing quotation accuracy via an online survey in which 2648 corresponding authors of articles evaluated a real‐world citation of their work. Respondents were also asked to categorize the perceived purpose of the citation, and what action, if any, they take when encountering inaccurate citations of their work. We found a quotation error rate of 16.6%, with no significant difference across academic disciplines, suggesting that variation in previous studies may be a result of methodological differences. Only 11.3% of respondents indicated they had taken action after encountering an inaccurate citation of their work. This work reveals reasons contributing to inaccurate quotations and issues with citation practices, and offers suggestions of areas for future research.

Recent years have seen the opening of many large and expensive new public library buildings, including in Australia. These new libraries reflect the increasing emphasis placed on the role of the library as a community hub. This article reports on an analysis of eight newly-built public libraries in the Sydney area to answer the research question: What are the design characteristics and attributes of new public library buildings? Based on more than 140 photographs taken at eight public libraries, our thematic analysis identifies the physical artefacts and features present in each image, organising these into three overarching themes: aesthetics, flexibility and openness, and sustainability. The libraries, in their embrace of impactful architecture, open plan layouts, support for flexibility, and prioritisation of sustainability, represent examples of many of the modern public library trends identified in the literature. We also find heterogeneity in aspects of the designs - architectural style, colour palate, floor layout and approaches to lighting and ventilation - suggesting that libraries and their designers are able to meet the requirements of public library users in very different ways.

This article reports the findings of a survey of 139 editors of Australian journals. The survey investigated the editors’ views on distinct roles of Australian journals, the potential conflicts between national roles and internationalization, and the factors affecting long-term viability of journals. Findings show that editors highly value the role of Australian journals in linking research and practice in the Australian context and sustaining local disciplinary communities. While the majority of editors (76%) see little to no conflict between internationalization and maintaining local roles, some see challenges in balancing local relevance with international appeal. The survey highlights a link between journal rankings, author incentives, and the ability to attract quality submissions, particularly for journals focusing on local issues. Attracting quality submissions and qualified reviewers emerged as the most important factors for long-term viability, with the latter also being the most significant challenge. The study highlights a strong reliance on voluntary work as 45% of editors receive no compensation for their roles, a concern for the sustainability of journals. Open access strategies vary, but 88% of journals were satisfied with their current publishing model. There was low satisfaction with support from parent organizations in areas such as training and professional development.

Purpose This paper reviews the corpus contained in the Knowledge Bank of Australian and New Zealand School Libraries (KBANZSL) to explore the under-researched history of Australian school libraries and teacher librarianship. Through the analysis of publications in the knowledge bank, new insights into the history of school libraries and teacher librarians in Australia are gained and the intersecting relationship between school libraries and wider library and educational agendas are explored. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a critical, and historical, bibliometric approach to provide new insights into the history of Australian school libraries. It examines the records of the Knowledge Bank of Australian and New Zealand School Libraries (KBANZSL) for trends and insights these records may provide. Findings The publications and collective memory captured within the Knowledge Bank of Australian and New Zealand School Libraries (KBANZSL) provide new insights into the rich history of the evolution of school libraries and teacher librarianship and, more particularly, the close links between formal and informal education, schools and libraries in Australia. Research limitations/implications The research was limited to Australia and did not include New Zealand. Social implications This research highlights the social value invested by the community in free access to knowledge through libraries over time and how this has impacted the provision of such access to children. Originality/value This paper takes an original approach to the exploration of school libraries in Australia through the use of historical bibliometrics. It uses this approach to analyse the published record and reflects on what this record can tell us about the inter-relationship between formal and informal education and library development in Australia. The findings provide new and valuable insights into the place of libraries in wider educational agendas and how political and community engagement with libraries influences the provision of library services to Australian children.

This article reports on the codesign of children and young adults' sections of an Australian public library. Drawing and Lego building sessions engaged children (3-11 years), and a workshop with activities including brainstorming and mood boards involved teenagers (13-18 years). The article examines the effectiveness of these approaches, emergent design elements, and post-implementation user reception. Findings reveal that codesign sessions were generally effective despite engagement challenges, and produced key design themes including spaciousness, interactivity, and comfort. A post-implementation survey of the children's area indicated strong user satisfaction. Value and limitations of codesign with young library users are discussed.

Librarians are regularly required to develop and deliver innovative, engaging, and pedagogically sound workshops, classes and training sessions for patrons and colleagues, however teaching theory and pedagogy are not currently a core area in most LIS degrees. This paper reviews the inclusion of pedagogy and learning theory subjects in accredited LIS degrees in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and the USA. We find that there is a relationship between explicit mention of pedagogy in professional accreditation documents and the presence of related subjects in LIS degrees, however, the majority of these subjects are electives. We suggest that in order to better support the teaching roles of librarians, educational subjects should be made core to all LIS degree structures, and that more explicit inclusion of pedagogy in accreditation documents is required.

In this chapter we introduce the concept of open access (OA) and explore the key issues that editors face in the complex and fast-changing scholarly communications environment. The aim is to provide the information needed to enable you to recognise the options you have as a journal editor, and to inform the decisions you will need to make for your journal. The chapter begins with an introduction to the concept of OA and provides a brief history of the OA movement from its beginnings in the 1970s, through its formalisation in the 2000s, to today's global OA landscape. It then explains the various approaches to OA with a focus on the dominant green and gold models, and highlights the key issues journal editors must consider when determining an OA policy for their journal. After explaining the current OA policy environment, at both institutional and funder levels, the chapter discusses copyright and licensing, and the concept of embargo periods. Finally, it covers the complexities of the current and emerging OA landscape, including transformative agreements, the impact of PlanS, and evolving author attitudes to OA.