Abstract
This paper, based on a talk delivered at the University of Leeds on 19 April 2011, seeks to outline a series of important trends that are influencing the roles and responsibilities of the academic research library, and a program of radical collaboration that would enable deeper integration of resources and a more systemic approach to the critical collection and service challenges. The academic research library must sustain its core responsibilities, albeit in an increasingly digitized, networked and mobile condition, enrich fundamental relationships with its user communities, and assume powerful new roles in support of learning and scholarship. New measures of quality, impact, productivity, innovation and leadership must be advanced. The paper suggests that the evolution of the academic library will focus more on an evolving period of polygamy, parabiosis and particularism, as we think beyond the transition to electronic and more about a post-digital context.
Highlights
JAMES G NEAL Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian Columbia University New York, USA to take on larger and more fundamental roles in teaching and learning
This paper, based on a talk delivered at the University of Leeds on 19 April 2011, seeks to outline a series of important trends that are influencing the roles and responsibilities of the academic research library, and a program of radical collaboration that would enable deeper integration of resources and a more systemic approach to the critical collection and service challenges
Libraries are learning how to leverage their assets of space, expertise and content, to become more entrepreneurial and to build capacity for change and hybrid approaches to the organization and staffing of the work. Libraries are embracing their roles as policy advocates representing the public interest in the national and global international policy debates. This combination of traditional activities and new roles contributes to a shifting vision of the academic research library
Summary
As libraries over the decades have embraced new systems and technologies, the tendency has been to automate old workflows and to retain control for ‘backroom’ operations in individual libraries. We must raise the question why we maintain duplicative programs and staff for such areas as acquisitions, cataloging, e-resource management and preservation. This often leads to shallow expertise and limited staffing commitments on the local level. Can we embrace new combinations of library operations to support these aspects of our work, and break down resistance to outsourcing?
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