Innovation in teaching and research rarely arrives fully formed. It usually begins as a small adjustment: a new way to introduce students to sources, a different approach to training lab teams, or a resource integrated into a course for the first time. What determines whether these ideas fade or take root is not novelty, but support.
Libraries play a central role in that process. Across campuses, librarians are often the first to spot emerging practices, the ones who test whether they work in real contexts, and the people who help scale them beyond a single classroom or lab.
Recognizing What Works
Librarians are close observers of campus behavior. They see which resources are actually used, where students struggle, and how faculty adapt materials over time. This perspective allows libraries to identify innovation early, often before it’s formally recognized as such.
In 2025, we repeatedly saw librarians surface innovation by:
- 🔎 Tracking patterns of use across courses and departments
- 🔎 Listening carefully during consultations, workshops, and instruction sessions
- 🔎 Noticing when faculty return with refined approaches rather than one-off requests
These signals matter. Innovation means repeated use and adaptation in real teaching and research settings.
Validating Innovation with Evidence & Context
Once an approach shows promise, libraries help answer a critical question: does this work beyond a single case?
Validation happens through evidence. Librarians look at usage data, learning outcomes, feedback from faculty and students, and alignment with curriculum or research goals. Just as importantly, they add context. An approach that works well in one department may need adjustment elsewhere.
This step is often invisible, but it’s essential. Validation turns isolated success into something credible and transferable, as well as building confidence among faculty and administrators who may be cautious about change.
Amplifying Good Practice Across Campus
Libraries are uniquely positioned to help effective ideas move beyond their point of origin.
Because librarians work across departments and roles, they can spot connections and opportunities for reuse that others may miss. When a teaching approach, training model, or resource proves effective in one area, libraries help ensure that insight does not remain siloed.
In practice, amplification looks like:
- 💡 Sharing examples during faculty workshops or orientations, where peers can see what has worked in similar settings
- 💡 Integrating effective approaches into guides, modules, or training programs, making them easier to adopt
- 💡 Connecting faculty and researchers facing similar challenges, enabling peer-to-peer learning
Libraries translate and reframe successful practices so others can understand how they fit different teaching, research, or support contexts. Over time, this turns individual successes into shared practice across an institution.
Why Recognition Matters
Formal recognition plays a different role. It signals that an approach is not only effective, but valued.
Recognition gives innovators visibility and credibility. It also gives libraries a way to point to concrete examples when advocating for resources, partnerships, or policy support. When innovation is recognized formally, it is more likely to be sustained, documented, and improved over time.
Key Takeaways from Librarians in 2025
📌 Innovation is practical.
The most impactful ideas focused on clarity, usability, and real constraints, not experimentation for its own sake.
📌 Evidence builds trust.
Data and feedback helped move conversations from opinion to shared understanding.
📌 People make adoption stick.
Tools mattered less than the librarians who guided, explained, and supported their use.
📌 Sharing multiplies impact.
When practices were shared thoughtfully, they spread faster and lasted longer.
Final Thoughts
As teaching and research continue to evolve, libraries will remain central to how effective practices are recognized and sustained. By validating what works, amplifying it thoughtfully, and recognizing it formally, libraries help ensure that good ideas do not remain isolated.
The JoVE Innovation Awards were created to highlight exactly this kind of work. Winners of the 2025 awards will be announced soon, recognizing librarians whose efforts have strengthened teaching, learning, and research across their institutions.