grand challenges for research libraries strategic challenges facing research libraries university of...

Grand Challenges for Research Libraries

Strategic Challenges Facing Research

Libraries

University of Manitoba LibrariesNovember 9, 2004

Duane Webster, Executive Director

Adoption Notice


Mission: Shaping the future of research libraries in the process of scholarly communication.

Members: 123 major research libraries in North America.

Ratios: 4 percent of the higher education institutions providing 40 percent of the information resources.

Users: Three million students and faculty served.

Expenditures: $3.2 billion annually, $1 billion for acquisitions of which 25 percent is invested in access to electronic resources.


OVERVIEW

• The traditional scholarly communication system is unstable and unsustainable

• Ten Challenges presented by the new models of dissemination and access

• Libraries Respond: Energy, Innovation, and Collaboration


New models born of the Web


“…it’s clear the current model is breaking up.” – Outsell (Feb. 27, 2004)

Market forces driving change

1. Market power and market exploitation of STM giants 2. Pressures on university presses and other not-for-

profit publishers to change business models3. Availability of digital publishing technologies4. Economics of Internet -- low marginal cost of

dissemination 5. New publishing and archiving models (e.g. Open

Access, Institutional Repositories)


Market power of STM giants


Serial & Monograph Costs, 1986-2002

North American research libraries

ARL Statistics

Library funding constraints


1. LIBRARY ROLES IN Teaching, LEARNING, AND RESEARCH

– Working with faculty to integrate information literacy skills, e-resources, and information technology into classrooms and research laboratories

– Reshaping the marketplace for scholarly resources

– Advocating traditional values in networked environment

– Engaging the academy in a discussion of scholarly communication issues


2. CHANGING USER BEHAVIOR AND EXPECTATIONS

• Wide array of user studies now available- Students prefer Google- Format agnostic- Seek convenience

• LibQUAL+ findings:– Importance of qualified, helpful staff – Self-sufficiency and control of information seeking

process– Importance of library as place, symbol, and refuge– Ready access to wide range of content (e.g.

complete runs of journals)


Electronic resources have gained in importance

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2000 2003

Not WellSomewhatVery Well

“Electronic research resources are invaluable research tools”


And dependence on them is expected to increase

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2000 2003

Not WellSomewhatVery Well

“I will become increasingly dependent on electronic research resources in the future.”


– Providing context for the “search, find, and obtain” event– Making content available in the user’s digital workspace– Reshaping services to meet actual and emerging needs– Engaging the changing perspective of teaching/learning– Leadership role on campus regarding e-resources

(impact, costs, intellectual property rights, archiving, and use)

– Providing new ways of accessing e-resources (portals and federated searching)

3. Redesigning Services/Creating New Roles for Libraries


4. Managing the “New” Content

– New ways of creating, finding, and using content

– Growing homogenization of traditionally distinctive collections

– Impact of the “Big Deal” and the growing use of licenses

– Introducing institutional repositories capabilities to manage locally developed e-resources

– Exposing hidden special collections and international resources

– Preservation of e-resources: technical, organizational and fiscal


ARL Survey of Changing Roles

Issue 225 available on the web:<http://www.arl.org/newsltr/225/index.html>


– Changing nature of library usage

– Re-configuring library facilities: collaborative study, social and intellectual center, showcase for recruitment, secondary storage, etc.

– Library as physical place, intellectual space, and community center

6. Re-conceptualizing Library Facilities


7. Defining Success in Digital Environment

– Crafting new measures of success

– Moving from measuring inputs to outputs

– Understanding impact of library roles and services

– Measuring patron perceptions of success

– Reallocating and managing capabilities to focus on new definitions of success


Issue 230/231 available on the web:http://www.arl.org/newsltr/230/index.html


8. Recruiting a New Generation of Librarians

– Securing and keeping talented staff

– Addressing inequitable compensation patterns

– Recruiting from under-represented racial and ethnic groups

– Training and developing staff to exploit IT and e-resources

– Developing staff capacity to innovate


For more information see:

<http://www.arl.org/pubscat/best.html>


9. Attracting Funds and Managing Costs

– Devising new revenue streams for library innovation

– Creating fund development opportunities

– Building strong donor relations

– Managing the cost of operating parallel access systems

– Deploying practical tools for cost containment and performance enhancement


– Understanding institutional readiness for change within library, within disciplines on campus, and within university administration

– Availability and nature of consortia relationships - what services and who pays

– Willingness and ability to share control, at intra- and inter-institutional levels

– Opportunities to leverage strengths of space, collections, services, and available talent

10. Influencing Innovation and Change


CLOSING OBSERVATIONS

• Transformational rather than incremental change

• North American Research Librarians are prepared to positively influence key issues

• Library responses: innovation, integration, and collaboration

• A daunting and exciting period in the life of research libraries


Selected References• Bowen, William G. “At a Slight Angle to the Universe: The University in a Digitized,

Commercialized Age” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 216 (2001): 1-15.

• Brewer, Joseph M., Sheril J. Hook, Janice Simmons-Welburn and Karen Williams. “Libraries Dealing with the Future Now” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 234 (2004): 1-9.

• Buckholtz, Alison. “Declaring Independence” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 214 (2001): 1-5.

• Case, Mary. “Promoting Open Access: Developing New Strategies for Managing Copyright and Intellectual Property” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 220, (2002): 1-5.

• Case, Mary. “Principles for Emerging Systems of Scholarly Publishing” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 210 (2002): 1-4.

• DeRosa, Cathy, Lorcan Dempsey, and Alane Wilson. The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition (Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 2004).

• Eaton, Nancy, Bonnie MacEwan and Peter J. Potter. “Learning to Work Together - the Libraries annd the University Press at Penn State” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 233 (2004): 1-3.

• Guedon, Jean-Claude. In Oldenburg’s Long Shadow: Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control of Scientific Publishing Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 2001 <www.arl.org/proceedings/138/guedon_aboutpaper.html/>.

• Guskin, Alan E. and Mary B. Marcy. “Dealing with the Future Now: Principles for Creating a Vital Campus in a Climate of Restricted Resources” Change, Jul/Aug 2003; Vol. 35, Iss. 4; 10-21.

• McCabe, Mark J. “The Impact of Publisher Mergers on Journal Prices: An Update” ARL: A Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Actions from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, 207 (1999): 1-5.

• OCLC Marketing Staff. 2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers (Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 2004).


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