In the article “2012 top ten trends in academic libraries”, the
Association of College and Research Libraries Research Planning and Review
Committee (a division of the ALA) discuss current and future issues academic
libraries face. The ACRL determined the trends after extensive literature
review and collaboration with experts. Listed below is the summary of trends
established for the 2012-year:
- Academic libraries need to prove their worth to the principal institution.
- The developments of standards for data curation are not fully established and keep changing, creating increased challenges for libraries.
- Strategic planning and leadership for digital preservation is absent. Funding and the lack of standardized policy are the main barriers to the management and preservation of material.
- Universities and colleges are offering more online programs and classes and this impacts libraries. The expectations for developing collections and services are changing.
- Technology is the driving force to radical new offerings of libraries. Open content options challenge the library’s role and puts pressure on them to develop new ways of fostering scholarship.
- Libraries are increasing their services and information access to mobile devices. Even vendors, such as JSTOR and EBSCOhost, are creating apps and mobile interfaces.
- PDA (patron driven e-book acquisition) is on the rise and may become the standard for textbooks. Libraries have begun replacing stacks with low circulation with licensing agreements with vendors for libraries to acquire only those books in high demand.
- Publishing models are changing and academic libraries must keep up. “Developments relative to journals include open access to historical content, author-funded open access to new content, and uncertainty of the future” (ACRL 2012) of subscriptions with publishers.
- Staff must be innovative as new challenges arise.
- Libraries are competing for user attention. “Convenience affects all aspects of information seeking – the selection, accessibility, and use of source” (ACRL 2012)
Questions to think about:
Are these trends accurate? And can these be applied to
forthcoming years?
How do academic libraries prove their worth?
How do expectations change with the insurgence of online
class offerings?
What can libraries do to become more convenient to the
patron?
How do these issues apply to public and special libraries?
ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. (2012). 2012 top ten trends in academic libraries. College & Research Libraries News, 73(6), 311–320. Retrieved from http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/6/311.full
I think many of these trends are accurate, and that some of them are not such a bad thing. Technology is a driving force in academic libraries, but it doesn't not seem that open content options is exactly a threat, but more an opportunity to grant users more access to a decentralized collection.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate if academic libraries are being made to prove their worth because their worth seems inherent and axiomatic. With the bottom-line-minded, it may not be as obvious. I do not know how academic libraries can actively demonstrate their worth.
The expectations change with online class offerings because the physical space is no longer the focus of library use. If space is not the focus of the library, then its function is not as clearly delineated. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. I the one hand it provides the library more versatility for its patrons, on the other hand it makes determining library worth even hard to pin down.
One thing that I think the internet has done is equalize the libraries. Libraries will become harder to distinguish by type/function in the future because the internet will provide so much of the materials.
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ReplyDeleteAs far as I've noticed, these trends seem fairly accurate within academic libraries. The one that I find most immediately problematic is the trend that academic libraries must prove their worth to their institutions. One of my library visits was at a special collection at our university, and this trend was essentially what was indicated to me by the professional staff when asked about reduced allocation of funds from the university. It seems as though academic libraries are being underfunded and then asked to further prove their worth, which seems counter-intuitive. As Josh said, the worth of libraries to academic institutions seems like a self-evident truth, and it seems as though their day-to-day functions should serve as enough of a justification for their existence. Libraries should not have to put on a show to be considered valuable.
DeleteThe expectations of academic libraries change with increased online class offerings in that the primary point of contact for information seekers may not always be the physical library, but a database discovery tool. In this case, the expectation would be that the library would have more electronic content available and have greater access to electronic repositories of information. It would also require that users could easily navigate the electronic library, and that the library have virtual reference services available to patrons who require assistance. I do not think that the library as a physical place at academic institutions will ever disappear completely, but libraries will have to adapt to accommodate more remote users. Providing greater electronic content in a more easily and readily accessible way would also help libraries become more convenient to the patron.
These considerations apply to public libraries and special collections in fairly similar ways, in that users will come to expect more content to be available electronically. The main issue with applying these trends to public libraries and special collections is that those institutions generally have even smaller budgets, less community demand, and more practical constraints with respect providing these services than academic libraries. Josh points out that the Internet helps to equalize the access that libraries can provide to materials, but there is still inequality in terms of which libraries are most able to financially meet the demands of technological advancement.