The JISC Attitudinal Survey 2008: Head and Senior Learning and Librarian Staff enlightens on what librarians think the future holds for them and libraries. Excerpt:
In a data-rich future, senior academic librarians believe that managing and promoting e-Resources and e-Content will be their main challenges. These are the conclusions of a newly published JISC survey of 300 key library and Learning Resource Centre (LRC) staff across 284 HE and FE institutions. The findings complement those of SCONUL’s recent ‘Top Concerns 2008’ research.
The shift away from print to a dependence on e-Resources raises questions such as how to manage the volume of material, how users can access it and how libraries and LRCs can provide or promote such resources. It also highlights financial issues such as potential funding sources for the increasing amounts of new technology, electronic materials and subscriptions likely to be needed by the learning institutions of the future.
JISC’s Attitudinal Survey, conducted by the JISC Monitoring Unit at the University of Kent, covered content, licensing, digitization and communication issues. Key Findings:
- Keeping abreast of and incorporating new technologies, pressure on space, information skills and literacy and access management are key challenges facing academic libraries
- The digitization of in-house resources is going on, but few institutions have an overall digitization strategy
- 25% of HE libraries were involved in the inter-institution procurement of collections during the last year, with 12% digitizing collections collaboratively
- Around one third agreed that academic libraries/LRCs could use social networking opportunities to engage students with their services but most were unsure especially in HE
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