the changing face of academic libraries
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Mauren Wade.TRANSCRIPT
Maureen WadeDirector of Library Services LSE
5 August 2009
The changing face of libraries: an academic
perspective
Changing face of academic libraries
• Changing HE environment• Shift from print to electronic information• Changing expectations and behaviour of
library users• Pressure on budgets and space
Changing HE environment
• Government agenda on expansion of universities
• The student as customer – improving the student experience
• Government pressure to produce and disseminate research – linked to funding
Shift from print to electronic information
• E-journals well-established; e-books slower to take-off
• Libraries still managing print as well as e-resources
• More complex resource discovery and access issues
• Expectation of information in digital format
Use of e-journals• RIN report: E-journals: their use, value and
impact, April 2009• UK universities spent nearly £80 million on
e-journals in 2006/07 • Estimate of 102 million articles downloaded
in one year• Back-runs as well as current journals
increasingly available• On-campus and remote access
E-books
• Availability of large collections of e-books eg Oxford Scholarship Online
• Title-by-title acquisition of e-books for course reading
• Availability of e-book readers: Sony, Kindle
• Awaiting tipping point in usage of e-books
Resource discovery
• Library catalogues primarily designed for access to print books
• Library users want access to e-journals at article level
• Libraries need to integrate access to information in different formats
• Students and researchers expect Google-type search options
Access issues
• Universities moving to streamline access to e-resources – single sign-on
• Reciprocal access between libraries for print collections – for e-resources hampered by licensing conditions
• Moves by JISC, SCONUL and M25 Consortium to address this issue
Changing user expectations
• Most information should be available electronically
• Google-type search functionality and integration
• Variety of types of study space to suit different styles of working
• Libraries will collect and manage universities’ research outputs
Pressure on library budgets and space
• Hybrid libraries – collecting print and electronic no longer affordable
• Extra costs of VAT on e-resources and higher-than-RPI inflation
• Pressure on space of continuing growth of print collections
• Pressure on space and budgets of expanding student numbers
How are academic libraries meeting these challenges?
• Shift from print to electronic information
• The Library as a place• Financial pressures• Managing universities’ research
outputs
Print to electronic – resource discovery
• Purchase of journal records to provide article-level searching
• Cataloguing of e-books alongside print• Use of web 2.0 tools to highlight collections
– blogs, Delicious tags, Facebook presence• Add-on interfaces to library catalogues – to
give Google-type searching and Amazon functionality
Digitisation of print
• Collaboration with commercial providers eg Google / Oxford
• JISC £22m digitisation programme 2004-09• 19th century pamphlets online• First World War poetry digital archive• British Cartoon Archive
• Individual university fundraising
The Library as a place
• Services to academic staff are increasingly delivered to the desktop
• Collaboration to reduce duplication in print collections – UK Research Reserve project
• Focus on high-quality storage of archives and special collections
• Design of range of study spaces to suit diverse needs
Changing study space needs
• Group study – large areas and bookable rooms
• Learning cafes – food and drink, soft seating
• Silent areas for individual study• Fixed PCs still required • Wireless everywhere plus power for
laptops
Coping with financial pressures
• Use of self-service• RFID for self-service loans• Virtual reference desk software• Information skills via VLE
• Focussing collection policies in liaison with academic staff
• Providing course materials online to cut down on multiple copies
Library’s role to promote research output
• Huge rise in institutional repositories of research papers
• Universities bringing in ‘mandates’ to ensure deposit of research papers
• Theses increasingly being made available in institutional repositories
• Work underway on formats and metadata standards
What does this all this change mean for library staff?
• Basic values and skills remain essential• Leadership and strategic vision• Effective management of people and
resources• Subject knowledge & information
management skills• Customer service ethos
New roles /skills forlibrary staff
• More technical knowledge of information systems and software
• Knowledge of metadata formats and standards – building on cataloguing /classification
• Specialist roles emerging eg digitisation manager, data librarian, information skills trainer
• Marketing skills – targeting services to specific user groups
Questions?