Have academic libraries transformed their position in the institution?
John Cox (National University of Ireland, Galway)
Higher education institutions have changed substantially in recent times. Many operate more like businesses, shaped by multiple drivers such as greater accountability, stronger competition for students and research funding, higher student expectations, internationalisation and challenging economic conditions. Some key areas of institutional focus have emerged. These include student success, internationally recognised research, community engagement, global reputation and maximisation of metrics to demonstrate impact. Libraries in higher education have transformed too. There is a shift of emphasis from collections to users; library space looks very different as a facilitator of new modes of learning; engagement with digital literacy represents a significant expansion beyond information literacy alone; changes in scholarly communications have generated new services around research data management, publishing and digital scholarship. Libraries promote themselves as partners rather than supporters. What does this mean for perceptions of academic libraries by institutional leadership and other stakeholders? Surely transformed libraries are now viewed very differently within changing parent institutions as vital strategic players? Unfortunately, as the international literature evidences, this seems often not to be the case. Institutional leadership often holds very traditional views of library roles and, worse still, may exhibit indifference, seeing the library as a largely unchanged entity whose contribution does not warrant strategic attention. Relations between library directors and those to whom they report appear to be less positive than before and to differ in focus. A similar mismatch of priorities is evident for academics who tend to see libraries as collectors rather than participants and may look elsewhere to meet their research needs. These perceptions have serious implications for academic libraries and their institutional positioning, despite their transformational investments. Some of the wounds are self-inflicted and require corrective action. This paper will examine why libraries find themselves in this situation and what they can do to address it.
