Title: Librarian Perceptions of the Function of the Academic Library: Summer-Fall 2006 Kevin Guthrie Roger C. Schonfeld December 4, 2006
1Librarian Perceptions of the Function of the
Academic Library Summer-Fall 2006Kevin
GuthrieRoger C. SchonfeldDecember 4, 2006
2Who did we ask?
- Collection development directors
- We also surveyed library directors at research
universities such responses are used for
comparison purposes - US only
- Colleges and universities that grant the
Bachelors Degree or higher
3The Respondents
- Surveys were completed by the following
individuals
4Level of Importance Assigned to Library Functions
5At your institution, how important are each of
the following functions of the library?
- Five functions are viewed as very important by
more than 80 of respondents - Maintaining a comprehensive electronic catalog of
the librarys collection - Purchasing/licensing electronic research
resources and making them available to faculty
and students - Being a starting point or gateway for locating
scholarly information - Working with faculty to incorporate information
resources into their lectures and curricula - Partnering with faculty to promote more efficient
and effective use of electronic research
resources
6At your institution, how important are each of
the following functions of the library?
- Three functions are viewed as very important by
less than 30 of respondents - Helping researchers to manage datasets and other
research byproducts (28) - Facilitating access to wikis, blogs, podcasts and
other user-generated content alongside our
scholarly materials (28) - Performing research and publishing the results in
library and information science journals (20)
7The Library as the Gateway?
8Gateway Functions Are Seen to Decline Modestly
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important
9Comprehensive Cataloging Is Less Important and
Declining More Rapidly at Universities
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to Maintaining a
Comprehensive E-Catalog
10Similarly, Serving as a Gateway Is Less
Important and Declining More Rapidly at
Universities
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to A Gateway for Locating
Scholarly Information
11At Universities, Library Directors See Less
Decline as a Gateway
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to A Gateway for Locating
Scholarly Information
12And Similarly See Less Decline for Comprehensive
Cataloging
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to Maintaining a
Comprehensive E-Catalog
13A Decline in the Gateway Function?
- Why do library leaders not perceive a significant
decline in the gateway functions? - Would such a decline in the gateway function be a
strategic shift? - How should libraries plan to manage this
strategic shift, if in fact it is anticipated?
14Transitioning to an Electronic-Only Journals
Environment
15Librarians are ready for the transition to an
electronic environment but are not quite there
yetPercent agreeing strongly with each statement
16Librarians are ready for the transition to an
electronic environment but are not quite there
yetPercent agreeing strongly with each statement
17Librarians are ready for the transition to an
electronic environment but are not quite there
yetPercent agreeing strongly with each statement
18Librarians are ready for the transition to an
electronic environment but are not quite there
yetPercent agreeing strongly with each statement
19General Consistency Across Classes, but More
Immediacy at the UniversitiesPercent agreeing
strongly with each statement
20Anticipating the Transition?
- Librarians anticipate a major transition, but is
it coming sooner than they realize? - Why do the research universities anticipate this
transition sooner than the colleges and teaching
universities? - How should libraries plan for and manage this
transition?
21Preservation and Archiving
22Library Functions Now and Five Years from Now
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important
23Print Preservation Is More Important at Smaller
Institutions
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to preserving traditional
library resources (e.g. hard copies, reference
materials and periodicals)
24Library Directors View Print Preservation as More
Important, but All Perceive It to Be in Decline
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to preserving traditional
library resources (e.g. hard copies, reference
materials and periodicals)
25Local Hard-Copies Are Declining in Importance at
the Universities
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to Ensuring the continued
availability of our local hard-copy collections
of scholarly journals
26But at Universities, Library Directors Do Not See
a Decline in the Importance of Local Hard-Copies
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to Ensuring the continued
availability of our local hard-copy collections
of scholarly journals
27For Electronic-Archiving, the Pattern Is Reversed
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to Ensuring that
electronic scholarly journals are carefully
archived and available for the long-term
28At Universities, Library Directors See the
Importance of Electronic Archiving Today
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Percent answering very
or extremely important to ensuring that
electronic scholarly journals are carefully
archived and available for the long-term
29Preservation
- The importance of hard-copies, and the importance
of their preservation, are in decline, especially
at the universities - They are beginning to become more focused on
preservation of electronic materials - How should this shift be managed strategically,
to avoid some of the challenges that arose from
the massive reformatting of newspaper collections?
30The Future of Books
31E-Books Are Not Seen As Transformative
32E-Books Are Not Seen As Transformative
33E-Books Are Not Seen As Transformative
34E-Books Are Not Seen As Transformative
35Although There Is More Enthusiasm for E-Books
at Research Universities
36The Future of E-Books
- E-Books are not yet seen as transformative, so
why is the importance of collecting e-books not
lower today and also expected to grow
significantly over the next five years? - Is the relatively higher enthusiasm for e-books
at the universities a harbinger of the new order
or are the research libraries out of touch? - If e-books will prove to be transformative, or at
least of growing importance, how should their
development and role be managed? If they will
not, how should enthusiasm for them be contained?
37Digital Repositories
38Existence of Digital Repositories
-
- Some colleges and universities are creating
digital repositories to store, archive, and/or
make available certain kinds of scholarly
information, which are sometimes called
institutional repositories or digital asset
management systems. Does your institution have
such a digital repository for any kind of
scholarly material?
39Repositories Are Most Widely Available at
Universities
40Yet in Terms of Importance, the Variation across
Institutions Is Modest
How important are each of the following
functions of the library? Maintaining our
institutional repository and other campus systems
containing electronic research resources.
Percent answering very or extremely important
41The Goals that Exist for These Repositories
- Top goal Archiving and preserving your
institutions intellectual assets (87 view it as
very important) - Maintaining an organized collection of your
institutions intellectual assets (79) - Promoting the knowledge generated at your
institution for external scholars and readers
(72) - Promoting the knowledge generated at your
institution for your own scholars and students
(71) - Ensuring that scholars have a location to deposit
materials that they create in the course of their
research (60) - Contributing to the creation of a new framework
for scholarly communication, in place of the
existing system of publishers (47)
42And Universities Are Most Interested in Changing
Scholarly PublishingOf institutions with
repositories, importance of Contributing to the
creation of new framework for scholarly
communication, in place of the existing system of
publishers Percent responding very important
43Journal Content Is Held in Universities
Repositories
44Images Lead in Multimedia Holdings
45Special Collections Are Very Important, but
Local Collections Are More Important at Larger
Institutions
46Datasets Have Yet to Make Much of an Impact
47The Future of Repositories
- Repositories are far more common at universities
than at smaller schools, although there is
widespread interest in them - Their main use to date is for images and special
collections, where there is significant interest
in sharing these materials across institutions - This fits with the goals that exist for these
repositories, which are to control and preserve
the institutions intellectual assets and
locally-generated knowledge - How should repositories be managed and when
should they be managed on a cross-institutional
basis?
48Some Questions for Discussion
49Some Questions for Discussion
- The Library as the Gateway?
- If the gateway role is in decline, should
libraries manage a strategic retreat or mount a
counterattack? - Transitioning to an Electronic-Only Journals
Environment - Is the transition happening sooner than is
realized and how should it be managed? - Preservation and Archiving
- How will the system meet its responsibilities for
print preservation while attention is focusing,
appropriately, on electronic-archiving? - The Future of Books
- If librarians are correct in seeing e-books as
over-hyped, how can they avoid adding another
expensive function to their portfolios? - Repositories
- How should repositories fit into library
strategic planning, given the desire to focus on
institutional knowledge assets?
50Librarian Perceptions of the Function of the
Academic Library Summer-Fall 2006Kevin
GuthrieRoger C. SchonfeldDecember 4,
2006kg_at_ithaka.org(212) 500-2600rcs_at_ithaka.org
(212) 500-2338