Future of the Academic Library Symposium: Service To Continue, but in What Form?
By Josh Hadro May 19, 2011Though many traditional library (and librarian) roles were challenged or redrawn altogether at Tuesday's "Future of the Academic Library" symposium, cohosted by Library Journal and McMaster University, student and faculty support services remained a bedrock. McMaster students were quick to point out, however, there is still plenty of room for improvement.
The day's talks for the some 220 attendees began with birds-eye-view observers Kate Wittenberg, project manager of the research and consulting outfit Ithaka S+R, and Joan Lippincott, associate executive director of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), describing current research on student and faculty use of academic libraries.
Gaps were a consistent theme—gaps between faculty/librarian expectations and student abilities, as well as gaps between faculty and library director perceptions of library services. On the latter, Wittenberg contrasted the results of the ongoing faculty perceptions survey conducted every three years by Ithaka S+R with the results of the more recent library director survey. (See "Library Director Survey Sets Service Benchmark, but Reveals Uncertainty on Direction" and "Faculty Survey Warns of Potential Irrelevance for Academic Libraries, Suggests New Roles" for more).
For example, Wittenberg pointed to the director versus faculty view of librarians as teaching facilitators: whereas more than 90 percent of directors described the role of "teaching facilitator" as important or very important, fewer than 60 percent of faculty said the same. Wittenberg also noted gaps between strategic priorities and funding allocation, saying that library spending emphasizes discovery, even though this is not a top priority for either faculty or library administrators.
Lippincott in turn focused her attention on student services. Pointing to studies of usage habits—such as those done by Alison Head and Michael Eisenberg from the University of Washington and from OCLC Research—Lippincott said we must make an effort to understand student attitudes and perceptions, not just their ownership and use of certain devices over others (though she did emphasize that a mobile-dominated landscape is just over the horizon).
Likewise, the superficial debate over where students start their research is also distorting elements of the conversation, as is the question of whether or not students should be using Google. Everyone uses search engines like Google, she said, including faculty and librarians, and students know that they can get at least some authoritative content there. Therefore, Lippincott said, "if you say, 'don't trust Google,' that's a way to kill your credibility."
"All in all," she reminded the audience, "the librarian approach is one based on thoroughness, while the student approach is based on efficiency."
From the mouths of students
The most compelling portion of the day immediately followed: five students took the floor to discuss their work habits and preferences for interaction with library services, encouraged by good-natured moderator Mike Ridley, Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Librarian of nearby Guelph University.
The students came from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines of study:
- Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, biochemistry, just graduated
- Jeff Wyngaarden, honors arts, fourth year
- Igor Knezic, commerce, fifth year
- Mradul Sahani, engineering, first year
- Matthew Dillon-Leitch, history and classics, fourth year
Most of the students supported the "Google first" notion, with several stating that they eventually made it to the library's digital resources—although it could take two or three years. Why don't students start with the library? "Efficiency and accessibility. The simplicity. The library web site is hard to use. You should not have to teach us how to use the site—it should be obvious," said Sahani.
Asked to describe what about the library was important to them, they quickly identified study space as a primary concern. "I use the library to get away from my friends," Dillon-Leitch said. He also noted that "the classroom follows me wherever I go," given ubiquitous online access to learning management systems outside of the lecture hall, and that he views the library as one of the only places "where I could just get my homework done."
Under what circumstances might they consider speaking to a librarian?
Sahani's answer—"if I didn't know how to use the photocopier"—prompted laughter and more than a few groans, but also compelled a number of audience members to speak out and encourage the students' honesty. Wyngaarden gave his own honest answer: "librarians are the last resort. If we desperately need them, we'll go to them." Knezic dissented, however, and said he knows he gets more and better sources when he consults with a librarian after doing his own exploratory research.
Finally, a number of audience members asked questions along the lines of, "How do the students want to interact with the library, and find out about their programs?"
All five said they would ignore simple informational posts about basic services, which they said they are easily able to filter out as noise the same way they do thousands of other irrelevant messages and posts in a variety of media. Sagely if cryptically, Wyngaarden offered, "the most effective way to get information across is to pretend you're not trying to get information across."
An audience member asked, "Should we be on the all the [social media] channels? Would that be annoying?"
"Yes, that would be annoying," Dillon-Leitch said. He gave his own follow-up dialog:
Library: come to a workshop!
Me: No!
"You should use those [channels], but it should be interesting," he said, acknowledging that's easier said than done. The students agreed they might be more likely to respond to offers of help as they worked in their workspaces, but also admitted that explicit writing help is not something they've generally considered as a library service.
"We come to libraries because we want to appreciate the seriousness of scholarly collections," Jegatheeswaran said. "Don't bombard me with messages, but target key things. It's about finding that balance. And targeting students when they're in the library is still the best approach."
"What I really want is more of a librarian presence at the library," Jegatheeswaran added.
See also, from the McMaster/LJ Symposium: Librarians Are the Future, MLS or Otherwise
