Dr. Michelle Reale ’99, ’16MFA, ’20EdD, Landman Library Professor, has published a new book on library science: Communities of Practice in the Academic Library: Strategies for Implementation (ALA Editions) discusses how academic librarians can strengthen their practice of teaching and provide education through access to information, using intentional efforts to both learn and share in a social context. Building and fostering communities of practice is the ideal way forward, according to the book. 

“This book is particularly important to me, as I saw the importance of the communities of practice that had been started at Arcadia, and in fact are still going, as a way of learning in community,” Reale says. “While this book focuses on academic libraries, the strategies can be adapted to any setting.”

The book is Reale’s seventh monograph in the field of library science in academia. She also has published 12 books of poetry.