Feral Librarian » libraries

A manifesto for academic libraries

Chris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:36:46 +0000

In an effort to get in on some of their Collaborative Rabble Rousing, I volunteered to chair an RLG Working Group that is writing a manifesto for academic libraries, addressing the need for change to better support changing research and publishing practices.

Once Dan Greenstein’s remarks about the the university library of the future started attracting attention, we decided to offer a preview of our work at hangingtogether, the RLG Programs blog.

Please head on over there and let us know what you think.

Tagged: future of libraries, librarians, libraries, library services, research, scholarship

Why (academic) libraries rock

Chris — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:45:49 +0000

This post is my contribution to the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation blogathon.

Since the value of libraries — especially academic libraries — is a major theme of this blog, I’m going to cheat a bit and just pull together a Top Ten List of Reasons Libraries Rock from old posts that fit the theme:

Libraries are Green — libraries offer major economies of scale and provide a green alternative to everyone owning their own copy of physical books, newspaper subscriptions, etc.
Libraries and librarians are keys to good research for students
Libraries and librarians are keys to good research for faculty
25 Random Things that rock about my library
Why libraries will always rock
Academic libraries keep the “awful books” other libraries don’t want
Some University Librarians rock
Librarians are great recruiters
Libraries and librarians make great song lyrics
Libraries continue to provide the best answers, and lots of them

Elevator pitch on future of libraries

Chris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:39:07 +0000

An old friend recently asked me the very reasonable question:

In the world of Internet indexing, what role is left to the librarians? If I can find everything from my PC at home, what happens to libraries themselves?

I was tempted to respond with a dissertation length treatise on the future of libraries, but it occurred to me that I really need to have a ready, elevator pitch answer for this question. What follows is too long for an elevator pitch, but is my attempt to summarize the different flavors of arguments about the future role of libraries/librarians.

It seems to me that visions of the future of libraries tend to center on 1 or more of these arguments:

The “Not Everything is Free and/or Online (yet)” Argument

This argument is centered on the facts that considerable amounts of content (scholarly and otherwise) is still being produced in print-only, most online scholarly content is available only through licensed sites (which are too expensive for individuals), and it will be a long time before all the old content gets digitized (if ever). Libraries will continue to be necessary to collect, preserve and provide access to the remaining print-only materials; and to provide institutional access to the online content that is behind pay-walls. In addition, there remains a decided preference for print reading among a sizable portion of the population. This argument may be of limited futility, as the tide of progress is towards more and more content being available online and free, and greater acceptance of digital reading.

The Preservation Argument

This argument is exemplified by the Darien Statements’ assertion that “The purpose of the Library is to preserve the integrity of civilization.” Libraries will continue to be the institutions charged with preserving the written records of humankind, while also being entrusted to develop strategies for preserving born-digital content for the future.

The Special Argument

According to this argument, access to “ordinary” content can be shared or provided on-demand, so libraries should concentrate on collecting, preserving and providing access to the “special” stuff. Individual libraries are needed to provide access to rare, specialized, perhaps local content of interest. This includes archives, manuscripts, and special collections in print and digital form. The Buckminster Fuller Archive at Stanford is my favorite example of the kind of hybrid archive that libraries do best.

The Libraries as Service Argument

The recent JISC video does a nice job of highlighting the library of the future as being service-centered. According to this view, libraries (and librarians) will continue to be needed because we will provide essential services to scholars (and others) in making sense of the new and complex world of information. Students will need more not less from librarians because of the increased amount of information and the decreased control over quality and authority. Librarians of the future will be expert knowledge navigators. Libraries will provide spaces for collaborative work, and will provide tools and services to scholars to help them organize the information they use, and to disseminate their work. In a world where both the consumption and the production of information is more complex than ever, libraries and libraries will provide services that help readers and writers navigate that world.

What have I missed? What are the other major categories of arguments for the future relevance of libraries and librarians? I realize my summary is heavily biased towards academic libraries. What are additional arguments about public libraries that I’ve missed?

Tagged: digital libraries, future of libraries, librarians, libraries

Harvard spokesman disses libraries

Chris — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:11:37 +0000

In an article in the Harvard Crimson about recent budget cuts, Harvard Business School spokesman Brian C. Kenny:

said the staff cuts were made strategically and that they came mainly from areas that do not directly affect students, such as alumni relations, fundraising, libraries, and IT.

“The guiding principle for the dean and school leadership throughout the year has been that we need to take every measure to preserve the core work of the School—teaching and faculty scholarship,” Kenny said.

Wow. Just wow.

I wonder if anyone asked students if libraries affect them? Our business school library is chock full of students every time I stop by.

How exactly do you “preserve faculty scholarship” without access to existing scholarship? And once those faculty publish their scholarship, does Kenny expect them to collect and preserve it themselves?

I get that libraries have to take their fair share of cuts in these tough times. Stanford libraries certainly took our share.
But to suggest that libraries don’t directly affect students? Again — just wow.

Tagged: libraries, scholarship