Terra Jacobson and Spencer Brayton, "Valuing the Community College Library: Impactful Practices for Institutional Success" (ACRL, 2025)

Jan 7, 2026

Terra B. Jacobson, Dean at Moraine Valley Community College, and Spencer Brayton, Director at Waubonsee Community College, share insights on the vital role of community college libraries. They discuss unique challenges like funding pressures and the importance of demonstrating value through diverse services. The pair explains how libraries can enhance transfer student success and reduce anxiety with personalized support. They also touch on the evolving landscape of instructional modalities, including the responsible use of AI in education, advocating for equitable access for all students.

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INSIGHT

Libraries Must Prove Institutional Value

Community college libraries face unique pressures from enrollment declines and funding cuts that force them to prove institutional value.
Terra Jacobson and Spencer Brayton argue libraries must explicitly communicate their impact to administrators to survive.

ANECDOTE

Peer Conversations Sparked The Book

Terra and Spencer met through the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges and saw recurring themes across campuses about demonstrating value.
Their conversations about peers' struggles led directly to creating the edited volume to share practical stories.

ADVICE

Support First-Time Authors

Invite first-time authors and provide flexible deadlines, feedback sessions, and writing support to increase contributions from practitioners.
Make submission processes approachable with topic prompts and individualized coaching to capture diverse, practical work.

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Valuing the Community College Library: Impactful Practices for Institutional Success (2025, ACRL) provides a holistic approach to exhibiting community college library value through historical context, practical applications, and future thinking. Through case studies, editorials from administrators, and practical approaches, it addresses why community college libraries exist and should exist, and the nuanced approaches to how library workers situate themselves at their institutions. Community college libraries need to provide access to content, people, space, and technology and offer instruction, but can also serve as an outreach arm in advancing the mission of open enrollment and affordable access to higher education. Valuing the Community College Library can help you be an advocate for your library on campus and in your community.

Guests: Terra B. Jacobson (Chicago, IL) has been the dean of the Learning Resource Center at Moraine Valley Community College (Palos Hills, IL) since 2016 and has worked in community college libraries since 2009. She has a M.S. in Information Science (Indiana University, Bloomington) as well as a M.S. in Library Science (Indiana University, Bloomington). Terra received her Ph.D. in Information Studies (Dominican University, IL). Her dissertation title is: The Value of Community College Libraires: Executive Leadership Team Perceptions of the Community College Library.

Terra is the 2021 recipient of the Illinois Library Association’s Valerie J. Wilford Scholarship Grant for Library Education. She also received the ALA College Libraries Section Innovation in College Librarianship award in 2014. Terra participates locally as a board member for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries and works extensively with the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges (NILRC). She recently published the book Valuing the Community College Library: Impactful Practices for Institutional Success (2025) with ACRL. She currently teaches online at the State University of New York and at Dominican University in the School of Information Studies.

Spencer Brayton is director of Library Services at Waubonsee Community College (northeastern Illinois, USA). His research and publication interests include media and information literacy, community college libraries, coaching and leadership. Spencer received his Master of Arts in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Science in Management from the University of St. Francis (Joliet, IL), and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Higher Education from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Host: Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College.

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