redefining academic library roles: how trends in higher education are driving change
TRANSCRIPT
ACRL President’s Program | 27 June 2015The Power of Mindset: Fostering Grit on the Way to New Roles
Redefining Academic Library Roles: How Trends in Higher Education are Driving Change
Constance MalpasOCLC Research
Source: https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Slow-tuition-growth-supports-continued-negative-outlook-for-US--PR_314106?WT.mc_id
US Higher Education: Continued Drought
Mixed & negative forecasts since
2009…
Success in the future won’t look
like the past.
• Increasing fragmentation, stratification of HE sector elite, middle, convenience on different paths
• Fiscal constraints: limited public funding, growing reliance on tuition for operating costs
renewed emphasis on student success
• Learning, research workflows transformed by technology
flipped classroom, online learning, open science
• More attention to managing performance, reputation learning analytics, research management
Key Trends in Higher Education
• 26,606 academic librarians in US (NCES, 2012)
Represents 16% of all US librarians
• Represent <1% of total college, university and professional school employment in US (BLS, 2014)
Very small part of very large industry
• Majority of US academic libraries (66%) support ‘4 years +’ institutions (NCES, 2012)
Market segment most influenced by expectations from ‘Golden Age’ of US higher education (1945-1970)
Libraries and US Higher Education
Change will be hard. And necessary.
M. Van der Werf and G. Sabatier. The College of 2020: Students. Chronicle Research Services, 2009.
1. Elite – brand-name private colleges/universities, public flagshipsglobal reputation, ‘student experience’, social/business
elites, large endowments
2. Middle – regional public and private universities, small liberal artsemulate experience, amenities of elite with fewer resources
3. Convenience – community colleges, for-profit private providersemphasis on career-ready credentials, online education
www.shirky.com/weblog/2014/01/there-isnt-enough-money-to-keep-educating-adults-the-way-were-doing-itChart derived from NCES Digest of Educational Statistics, 2012, Table 255.
‘Convenience’ models driving change in HE system as a whole
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Doctoral/Research
Master’s
BaccalaureateBaccalaureate/
Associate’s
Associate’s
Specialized
Distribution of US Academic Librarians by Carnegie ClassificationN = 26,606 (NCES 2012)
Source: NCES Academic Libraries Survey, 2012. Derived from Table 6.
75% of academic library community has aspired to look more and more alike
Normative Isomorphism
American Sociological Review Vol. 48, No. 2 (Apr., 1983), pp. 147-160
Organizations adopt similar practices to gain legitimacy (without necessarily improving efficiency)
Cf. Matthew S. Kraatz “Learning by Association? Interorganizational Networks and Adaptation to Environmental Change” The Academy of Management Journal Vol. 41, No. 6 (Dec., 1998), pp. 621-643
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/joe-nocera-college-for-a-new-age.html
“You don’t need libraries and research infrastructure and football teams and this insane race for status,” [Carey] says. “If you only have to pay for the things that you actually need, education doesn’t cost $60,000 a year.”
J. Nocera, New York Times, 3 March 2015
My research was accomplished with card catalogues stored in the university’s biggest building, the library, along with copies of the Readers Guide to periodical Literature, bound in green hardcover on shelves near the reference desk. When the library closed, I had to find something else to do.
K. Carey (2015), p. 87
Johnwilliamsphd “Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower” CC-by-nc-sa
"Gelman GWU Air" by Pjn1990 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Organizational similarities…more than skin deep
"WidenerLibrary HarvardUniversity Springtime" by Unknown. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
http://www.thehoya.com/campus-buildings-impart-character/
No...a disruption of the institutional isomorphism that makes colleges/universities and their libraries look alike
The ‘End of Academic Libraries’?
http://www.collegerank.net/amazing-college-libraries
The ‘50 Most Amazing College Libraries’ built on the same model
Org. charts, too.
Education & Related Expenses per FTE Student, 1990-2010
W.G. Bowen and E.M. Tobin Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education Princeton University Press, 2014. Figures 3 & 4.
A widening gap between elite and general educational offer at private 4-year institutions
…and at public 4-year institutions
Remember: this is where most academic librarians are
Doctoral/Research
Master’s I and II
Baccalaureate
Baccalaureate/Associate’s
Associate’s
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Allocation of Library Expenditures by Carnegie Classification
Salaries and Wages Information Resources Operating Expenses
Source: NCES Academic Libraries Survey, 2012. Derived from Table 8.
Library staff will need to support different
institutional priorities
>70% of expenditures for staff
>40%
Operational goals will evolve
cataloging metadata management
curation creation, publishing
customer relationship managementcommunity engagement
reference
bibliographic instruction
data literacy, visualizationintegrating library, student support svcs
assessment custom analytics
acquisitions discovery, facilitated access
Old roles Emerging needs
New roles in a reconfigured library organization
Elite, research:Brand management - personal and institutionalDigital scholarship, creation and curationCoordinated stewardship*Outreach/Community Engagement Specialist
Middle
ConveniencePre-packaged content for competency-based learningLibrary integration with student/learning support*Adaptive Learning Specialist
Facilitated collections – cooperative managementVisible library contribution to student success*Preemptive Support & Response Specialist*UX Design Librarian*Creative Learning Specialist *Neighborhood Liaison & Public Education Specialist
*”New roles” from S.Bell, L, Dempsey, B. Fister (ACRL, 2015)
Locus of operations will shift
Shared
• Elite will selectively affiliate around cooperative solutions, retaining ‘distinctive’ local services that contribute to brand, prestige
• Middle will rely on blend of cooperative and commercial sourcing• Convenience will increasingly rely on commercial
NB! reliance on commercial doesn’t mean ‘no librarians’ think of travel nursing, on-demand staffing in a variety of sectors
infrastructure
services
staffing Specialist catalogingPreservation…
DDA profilingShared print…
Shared storageShared ILS…
https://www.orbiscascade.org/collaborative-workforce/
Affects library credentialing models too?
http://static.fusion.net/lifetime_earnings/
*19 years to catch up with high school grad…
Rankings based on career placement
+ alternative credentialing . . .
http://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-end-of-college-by-kevin-carey.html
Academic librarianship will changeand so will you.
Greg Woodhouse “El Camino Real Bell (165/366)” CC-BY-NC
Old roads, new ways . . .
SM
Together we make breakthroughs possible.
Thanks for your attention.
Constance Malpas
OCLC Research
ACRL President’s Program | 27 June 2015