Academic and Research Libraries

ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES

 

Fewer face-to-face reference transactions conducted in large academic and research libraries and a declining number of in-house circulation transactions; at the same time more inter library loan requests being fulfilled and more user instruction sessions being conducted; libraries struggle to accommodate a virtual library model (Kyrillidou and Young; Martell).

http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/04pub/04intro.html

 

Students prefer to use search engines; Google is the preferred search engine by a wide margin; search engines impacts students’ use and expectations of searching for information; students’ use of academic resources is low; they find it difficult to locate information and resources in general; and they will sacrifice quality for expediency (Griffiths and Brophy).

 

College students go to the library more often, and utilize library web pages, online databases and e-journals more than other segments of the population (Perceptions).

http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/Percept_all.pdf

 

Transition phase for many libraries from buildings designed for print and monograph-based holdings to IT-driven places where users can access e-resources in an IT-rich environment (Freeman).

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub129/pub129.pdf

 

Libraries that are designed to meet current and evolving user needs and preferences for space; incorporate collaborative information technologies for group projects as well as individual study space; and continue the library’s heritage as the heart of the campus have the ability to increase library usage (Freeman; Ludwig and Starr).

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub129/pub129.pdf

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1175798

 

The academic library of 2012 will be defined by function, not place; how the library provides the needed electronic collections and e-reference services to students and faculty, e.g. via the library web site, course management pages, tailored user pages, etc., will define its success or failure (Bailin and Grafstein).

http://alpha.fdu.edu/~marcum/bailin_grafstein.doc

 

Academic libraries are developing more graphically-oriented search mechanisms for scholarly resources, facing the need to manage vast collections of digital materials, digitizing books and resources at a growing pace, and struggling with the need to create a lasting archive of digital materials (Olsen).

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5817291.html

 

Perhaps signaling a more wide-scale trend, the University of Texas-Austin’s undergraduate library has become a “bookless” information commons designed with up-to-date, expanded computer and e-learning technologies for an expanding array of e-resources, as well collaborative meeting and learning spaces; books are stored off-site (Deahl).

http://bookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055493

 

States are reducing financial support for state universities, creating even more precarious financial situations for libraries; at the same time, state universities are becoming more tuition-driven, and departments, faculty and students are having a direct impact on the flow of funds to libraries (Seaman).

 

Changing model of collection management from ownership to access, due to growth in electronic materials demanded and accessed by users remotely, and licensing arrangements by publishers that do not confer long-term ownership on many electronic resources (Kyrillidou and Young).

http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/04pub/04intro.html

 

High price of academic serials impacting academic and research libraries’ ability to purchase all serials demanded by users, and requiring larger percent of libraries’ budgets at the expense of monograph purchases, salaries, and operating expenditures (Kyrillidou and Young).

http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/04pub/04intro.html

 

The annual, rising cost of serials, while still high, declined from a high of 10.2% in 1995 to 6.1% in 2004, possibly due to pressure from academic libraries, activities to combat the “crisis in scholarly communications” through open access models and digital repositories, and the bundling or “big deal” arrangements of serials by publishers (Kyrillidou and Young).

http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/04pub/04intro.html

 

Electronic resources, e.g. e-serials, databases, hardware/software, etc. comprising the largest growth in expenditures by large academic and research libraries; such expenditures are three and ten times greater than other materials over the last decade (Kyrillidou and Young).

http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/04pub/04intro.html

 

The loss of onsite book collections could lead to the loss of “serendipity,” whereby scholars find by accident, or luck, invaluable resources by physically browsing collections classified by subject (Mann).

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/selectedarticles/googlevsonsite.pdf

 

Projects underway to create a digital archive of licensed journal articles for institution’s long-term access and preservation needs, such as LOCKSS (Olsen).

http://lockss.stanford.edu/index.html

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5817291.html