Transcript Title TBD - University of Arizona Libraries

Where Next?
Library Transformation
Carla J. Stoffle
Dean, University of Arizona Libraries
and the Center for Creative Photography
&
Kim Leeder
Special Assistant to the Dean
The University of Arizona Libraries
April 2006
Revision 7
Economic Change
Economics, not technology, is (or will be) driving
the need for fundamental changes in our
universities and in our libraries.

Colleges and universities are not going to receive
the resources to keep pace with cost increases.


See: “State Tax Fund Appropriations for Higher Education FY1961 to
FY2005. Postsecondary Education Opportunity 151 (2005): 1-20.
Libraries must stop muddling through and
undergo transformation to thrive.

See: Alan E. Guskin and Mary B. Marcy, “Dealing with the Future
Now,” Change 35.4 (July/August 2004): 10-21.

See: Joseph M. Brewer, Sheril J. Hook, Janice Simmons-Welburn, and
Karen Williams, “Libraries Dealing with the Future Now,” ARL Report
234 (June 2004): 1-9.
2
Characteristics of
the Transformed Library (1)


The library is a place for the production and
management of knowledge.

We stimulate research, not just support it.

We are part of the creation process for new knowledge, access
tools, and dissemination processes that do not require
mediation or instruction.
We manage campus knowledge and information.


We provide campus information services, not just library
information, on a 24/7 basis.
We create learning environments for our
campuses and are partners in the educational
process.

The library is an integral and interdependent part of the
institution’s educational experience.

We work with instructors to create learning resources.
3
Characteristics of
the Transformed Library (2)

Our collection format of choice is digital.

We are not subject to the restrictive pricing
policies of the marketplace.


We have not only slowed down inflation but reduced the cost
of collections and the cost of selecting, processing, and
housing the collections through outsourcing and collaboration.

A smaller percentage of our budget is going to purchasing,
processing, and managing scholarly information.

We create new knowledge sources.
We focus our collection building in special
collections areas and creating new knowledge.

We are collecting new types of information, such as data sets,
grey literature, and local resources.

We add to the collective knowledge by digitizing our primary
resources.
4
Characteristics of
the Transformed Library (3)


We are an active part of an ongoing national
system for maintaining information in all formats,
through coordinated repositories.

We have created collaborative repositories to provide open
access to information.

We are collecting “born digital” materials.
We are politically proactive.


We are part of a national system that monitors and influences
national information policy and protects campus interests and
access to information through national and local action.
The library is agile, flexible, and welcomes
change.

We do not wait for change to come, but are constantly
evolving and changing ourselves to meet it.
5
How to Get There:
Building a Transformed Library
1)
Move from cooperation to collaboration in our activities.
2)
Only do locally what must be done locally.
3)
Focus on the needs of our campus, not what libraries
traditionally do.
4)
Provide all services, including information fluency instruction,
to the desktop.
5)
Change the portions of our budget going to collection-building
and managing legacy collections.
6)
Redesign our spaces as people space, not storage areas.
7)
Develop new performance and assessment measures.
8)
Internalize the concept of “planned abandonment,” which
encourages the abandonment of programs and projects in
decline to free up resources for innovative new projects.
9)
Create new sources of revenue.
6
1. From Cooperation to Collaboration


Libraries have a long history of cooperation, but
these efforts occur at the margin, not at the core
of activities. A true collaboration requires:

Interdependence and pooling of resources,

Trusting others to follow through,

Giving up some parts of our work to others, and

Redirecting resources and staff time.
Collaboration can help libraries solve the big
problems we all face, but it requires a
fundamental change in our individual operations.

Collaborative ILL

Center for Research Libraries repository for little-used
materials
7
2. Only Do Locally
What Must be Done Locally

Libraries should only do locally what must be
done locally, or that which is most economically
done locally.

We should only do alone that which we can’t find
partners for.

Buy services through outsourcing, such as acquiring shelfready books.

Create collaborative partnerships, such as coordinated print
repositories, to pool materials.

Create partnerships with commercial organizations, i.e.,
Scholar’s Portal, Google.
8
3. Focus on Campus Needs

Putting aside the concept of “what we do,”
academic libraries must target the needs of their
campus and aggressively seek out ways to work
with other units.

Libraries should:

Prioritize the needs of campus over concerns about what we
do.

Partner with other campus organizations to volunteer our
unique skills.

Become the ‘one-stop shopping’ point for all campus
information.

Work with other units to help them create web pages and
student information guides.
9
4. Provide All Services to the
Desktop

Libraries need to provide services to the desktop
to greatest extent possible to empower users
with self-sufficiency.





Email and Chat Reference
Interlibrary loan requests & delivery
Online course reserves
Delivering other formats, including streamed audio and video
In our instructional efforts, this also means
working with faculty to provide what they need.



Creating well-designed assignments that use information
resources, new technologies, and active learning
Course management systems
Reusable digital instruction objects (carriers of innovation).
10
5. Rethink Collecting
& Reallocate Resources

We must:





reduce the proportion of our budget going into purchasing
information.
move to digital as the preferred collection format.
eliminate the massive amounts of resources (including space)
devoted to managing legacy collections, and channel saved
resources into digital projects and other innovations.
collaborate with other units to create open access repositories,
rather than licensing outside databases.
We need to focus on collecting materials that are
unique by emphasizing Special Collections.

We need to collect new types of information, such as data sets
and grey literature.

See: Lewis, David W. “Reflections on the Future of Library Collections.”
Arizona University Library Consortium. University of Arizona Libraries,
Tucson, Arizona. 27-28 January 2005.
11
Trends in Collection Use
Use of Purchased, Open Access, and Free Web materials, 2005-2030
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
20
13
20
14
20
15
20
16
20
17
20
18
20
19
20
20
20
21
20
22
20
23
20
24
20
25
20
26
20
27
20
28
20
29
20
30
0%
Purchased
Open Access
Free Web
Source: Lewis, David W. “Reflections on the Future of Library Collections.” Arizona
University Library Consortium. University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, Arizona. 27-28
January 2005.
12
6. Redesign Library Spaces

In the past we dedicated our spaces to housing
physical collections that are becoming obsolete.


These spaces are now being replaced with computer
workstations and group study areas.
Rather than mere replacement of books with
computers, libraries need to look at redesigning
spaces.

Library spaces should be recreated as “people space,” for
computer work, learning, and collaboration.

Examples: Information Commons, group presentation rooms,
multimedia stations.
13
7. Develop New
Performance Measures

Performing new types of work means coming up
with new ways to measure effectiveness.


If what we count determines what we do, we need to find
different things to measure.
ARL New Measures Initiative

Seeks to respond to this need by establishing new data
gathering and statistical analysis tools to measure library
success.

Examples: LibQual+ survey, E-Metrics Projects, Projects
SAILS.
14
8. Internalize
“Planned Abandonment”

Eliminate projects or programs before they go
into decline with the purpose of freeing up those
resources—staff, financial, and otherwise—to
pursue new, more innovative projects that will
move the organization forward.

“Every three years, every organization—not just business—
should sit down and look at every product and every service
and every policy and say, ‘If we didn’t do this already, knowing
what we now do, would we go and do it?’ And if the answer is
no, don’t make another study” (Drucker & Senge, 34)

See: Drucker, Peter F., and Peter M. Senge. Leading in a Time of Change:
What It Will Take to Lead Tomorrow: Viewer’s Workbook. New York: The
Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, 2001.
15
9. Create New Sources of Revenue
The economic environment requires that libraries
seek other sources of funding.

Document delivery

Rethink external development and fundraising as a central part of
all librarians’ jobs


Those on service desks should cultivate good relationships to indirectly
encourage donations.

Grantwriting should be a central task for all librarians.

Selectors using gift money should notify donors what was purchased
with their gift and why it is important.
New potential funding sources

Coffee shops, food services

Gift shops
16
Conclusion
This is an exciting time of opportunity for libraries
but they will need to be willing to transform.

The current economic climate requires libraries to evolve in order
to stay vibrant.

We cannot manage change. We just have to meet it and find ways
to be more agile and creative with the resources we have.



Planned abandonment
Tagline for job descriptions: “Candidate must be able to
work in an environment that is ambiguous...”
It is important that we learn to anticipate, welcome, and exploit
change.
17