On Research Libraries

Explore the ARL’s initiatives for identifying, formulating, and testing new criteria for evaluating academic libraries in the digital age! The proliferation of electronic information resources in the past decade has changed the ways in which research libraries evaluate their service and holdings. This collection of articles (thirteen of which previously appeared in ARL’s bimonthly newsletter/report on research issues and actions) examines new measures for library evaluation that are being developed by the Association of Research Libraries. It presents an overview of how the Association of Research Libraries’ “new measures” initiative developed, plus insightful reports on the details of the SERVQUAL, LibQUAL+, and E-metrics projects. Handy flow charts and tables make the information easily accessible and understandable. From the editor: “The profound changes in library management and collection development brought about by digital technology in the closing decade of the twentieth century have changed the way we think about libraries. If we were to ask librarians who have been in the profession for more than a decade how they evaluated a library, we probably would hear statistics about the number of volumes held and added annually, the number of serial subscriptions, how much money a library has to spend, and how many professionals are on staff. These are the traditional criteria by which libraries have been judged throughout much of the twentieth century. Newer librarians, however, especially those who entered the profession in the late 1980s and 1990s, use a different yardstick and frequently recite different statistics that include terms such as user satisfaction, spending on electronic resources and services, document delivery services, numbers of databases and electronic journals available, and services provided to distance learners.” In Evaluating the Twenty-First Century Library, you’ll find valuable information on: current performance measures for academic libraries the continuing search for accurate new performance measures the uses of learning outcomes assessment SERVQUAL, LibQUAL+, and the ARL LibQUAL+ Pilot Project the results of the 2000 Symposium on Measuring Library Service Quality the uses of E-metrics in assessing the academic networked environment and accurately measuring use, users, services, resources, and other factors an insightful discussion of the rise in spending on electronic information by research libraries

This report provides Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) leaders and the academic community with a clear view of the current state of the literature on value of libraries within an institutional context, suggestions for immediate "Next Steps" in the demonstration of academic library value, and a "Research Agenda" for articulating academic library value. Its focus is to help librarians understand, based on professional literature, the current answer to the question, "How does the library advance the missions of the institution?" This report is also of interest to higher educational professionals external to libraries, including senior leaders, administrators, faculty, and student affairs professionals.

Researchers rely on libraries to provide the information they need; equally, supporting research is a fundamental reason for libraries' existence. This book explores the crucial relationship between libraries and researchers, focusing on developing and managing effective library services to support research, and includes the authentic voices of researchers surveyed. This book will inform and advise all those who work with researchers in libraries, combining practical advice with an exploration of fundamental issues relating to the relationship between research and libraries. It is essential reading for all who work in academic and research libraries, and will be of particular value to newly qualified and practising liaison and research support librarians.

A report by the American Council of Learned Societies on problems facing research libraries.

Transforming Research Libraries for the Global Knowledge Society explores critical aspects of research library transformation needed for successful transition into the 21st century multicultural environment. The book is written by leaders in the field who have real world experience with transformational change and thought-provoking ideas for the future of research libraries, academic librarianship, research collections, and the changing nature of global scholarship within a higher education context. Authors are leaders in the research libraries field from a variety of countries Thought provoking chapters will help guide research library transformation globally Contains a diversity of thinking on research librarianship in the 21st century

This inspiring book will enable academic librarians to develop excellent research and instructional services and create a library culture that encompasses exploration, learning and collaboration. Higher education and academic libraries are in a period of rapid evolution. Technology, pedagogical shifts, and programmatic changes in education mean that libraries must continually evaluate and adjust their services to meet new needs. Research and learning across institutions is becoming more team-based, crossing disciplines and dependent on increasingly sophisticated and varied data. To provide valuable services in this shifting, diverse environment, libraries must think about new ways to support research on their campuses, including collaborating across library and departmental boundaries. This book is intended to enrich and expand your vision of research support in academic libraries by: Inspiring you to think creatively about new services. Sparking ideas of potential collaborations within and outside the library, increasing awareness of functional areas that are potential key partners. Providing specific examples of new services, as well as the decision-making and implementation process. Encouraging you to take a broad view of research support rather than thinking of research and instruction services, metadata creation and data services etc as separate initiatives. Dynamic Research Support in Academic Libraries provides illustrative examples of emerging models of research support and is contributed to by library practitioners from across the world. The book is divided into three sections: Part I: Training and Infrastructure, which describes the role of staff development and library spaces in research support Part II: Data Services and Data Literacy, which sets out why the rise of research data services in universities is critical to supporting the current provision of student skills that will help develop them as data-literate citizens. Part III: Research as a Conversation, which discusses academic library initiatives to support the dissemination, discovery and critical analysis of research. This is an essential guide for librarians and information professionals involved in supporting research and scholarly communication, as well as library administrators and students studying library and information science.

Discovery tools are now becoming more common in the academic library landscape, and more products are now available from vendors. While librarians are advocating and promoting their use by students and faculty, they are also evaluating their searching capabilities, their usefulness, and on-going maintenance requirements. This work is geared to librarians considering the implementation of a discovery tool. As a result, it addresses the selection and implementation of such a tool, its relationship to information literacy and catalog maintenance, usability testing, and assessment. Issues such as database and catalog searching and the quality of searching queries are also addressed. A comprehensive review of the literature serves as a valuable resource. Librarians will appreciate the highly practical nature of the volume as it is enriched by a number of varied case studies. This book was published as a special triple issue of College & Undergraduate Libraries.