The November 2009 issue of C&RL News is now available online and in the mail. Making the transition from K–12 to higher education can be daunting for many students. Academic librarians are exploring new ways to connect with first-year students and improve their research and information literacy skills. At Belmont University in Nashville, librarians aren’t waiting until students enter college to reach out to them. They are collaborating with area school librarians to open dialogue and improve information literacy skills at the K–12 level. Courtney Fuson and Jenny Rushing describe the program in their article “Climbing out of the ‘Ivory Tower.’”

Collecting materials that appeal to today’s freshmen, and incorporating them into the classroom, can also help make the academic library experience and research process less daunting. Portland State University recently acquired the archives of Dark Horse Comics and is working to expand the reach of the school’s comic studies program, Michael Bowman, Cristine N. Paschild, and Kimberly Willson-St. Clair tell the story of “