4 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 292 — 2017 Editor’s Note Kaylyn Groves, ARL Senior Writer & Editor and RLI Assistant Editor This issue of Research Library Issues (RLI) highlights the value of professional failure. The idea to explore this theme emerged from conversations with the ARL Innovation Lab Advisory Group earlier this year. We hope this issue highlights the value of failure—both its necessary role in experimentation and its key role in learning. We see this as an opportunity to help shift our community’s culture away from risk aversion and toward risk-taking and innovation. The vignettes and case studies published here show that failure in many forms is a stepping stone to success. Tom Wall, university librarian of Boston College and past chair of the ARL Innovation Lab (2016–2017), sets the stage for this issue with an essay on “Failure, Risk, and the Entrepreneurial Library.” Seven vignettes by the following authors give readers a taste of a variety of failures and lessons learned: • Gerald Beasley, Cornell University • Marwin Britto, University of Saskatchewan • Holly Ann Burt, University of Southern California • Samuel “Scott” Hall, ServiceNow (formerly with University of California, Berkeley) • Amanda Rinehart, The Ohio State University • Lorelei Rutledge and Lis Pankl, The University of Utah • Catherine Soehner, The University of Utah Four case studies explore professional failures more deeply: • “A Quest to Survey Library and University Press Collaborations in Canada: A Case Study in Research Approach and Design” by Rosarie Coughlan, Queen’s University Geoffrey Brown, Dalhousie University Robert Glushko, Western University and Inba Kehoe,