ORCID
0000-0002-6672-1973
Abstract
Despite the rapidly changing information and technology landscape, collections remain at the heart of academic libraries, signifying their enduring importance in providing access to our cultural heritage. Given broader trends in research and the current information ecology of an increasingly networked, distributed, and licensed environment, building collections and developing collection polices is increasingly ambiguous. These trends impact librarians in form of ever-expanding portfolios, diffusion of effort, weakened sense of focus, and a rising sense of persistent yet unmet needs for developing new skills. This paper outlines current research on collection trends and summarizes the interactive exchanges from the 2019 Charleston Conference Lively Session (https://sched.co/UZR5). Through live polling, session participants identified key trends in libraries and collections: Key trends included business models, budget constraints, consortium deals, continued importance of subscribed content, access vs. ownership, digitization of unique local collections, digital humanities, digital scholarship, library publishing projects, growing library investments in Open Access (OA), and collection diversification efforts with a view to equity and social justice. Among emerging library services, data services and digitization ranked highest in importance. The most-cited wish-list items included transformative deals, stronger campus partnerships, more OA projects, reduced copyright barriers in sharing homegrown digitized video content, as well as skill development in Counter 5 and data analysis. Existing physical and digital preservation programs received only lower-middle strength ratings. Among long-established library characteristics, collection policies, subscribed content, interlibrary loan, and consortial borrowing and lending retained enduring value and high rankings in importance. Tensions continue between ownership, borrowing, and access.
Figure 1: Live Poll Question 1: What type of organization are you with?
02_session_particip_roles.png (385 kB)
Figure 2: Live Poll Question 2: What is your role?
03_trends_impact.png (556 kB)
Figure 3: Live Poll Question 3: Library & industry trends: Please rate their importance.
04_poll_coll_types_ranked.png (428 kB)
Figure 4: Live Poll Question 4: Collection types: Please rank by importance.
05_trends_ranked.png (411 kB)
Figure 5: Live Poll Question 5: Broader trends: Please rank by importance.
06_new_libr_svcs_ranked.png (325 kB)
Figure 6: Live Poll Question 6: Newly developing library services: Please rank by importance.
07_audience_noted_trends.png (351 kB)
Figure 7: Live Poll Question 7: What factors of influence did we miss?
08_big_deal_views.png (213 kB)
Figure 8: Live Poll Question 8: Big Deal: Important? Expendable? Sound off here!
09_OA_investing.png (488 kB)
Figure 9: Live Poll Question 9: Investing in Open Access at your institution?
10_OA_current_projects.png (167 kB)
Figure 10: Live Poll Question 10: Open Access: What are you supporting now?
11_OA_wish_list.png (209 kB)
Figure 11: Live Poll Question 11: Open Access: Your future plans / wish list?
12_libr_pub_yes_no.png (167 kB)
Figure 12: Live Poll Question 12: Library as Publisher: Are you involved in publishing projects?
13_libr_pub_current_projects.png (135 kB)
Figure 13: Live Poll Question 13: What library publishing projects are you involved in?
14_dig_hum_schol_YNfp.png (84 kB)
Figure 14: Live Poll Question 14: Are you or your organization involved in digital humanities & digital scholarship?
15_DEI_soc_justc_coll_impact.png (245 kB)
Figure 15: Live Poll Question 15: Diversity, equity, social justice --> collection program impact?
16_coll_policies_imp.png (147 kB)
Figure 16: Live Poll Question 16: Are collection policies still important?
17_resource_sharing_value.png (387 kB)
Figure 17: Live Poll Question 17: Resource sharing: taken for granted, or new dawn?
18_preservation.png (639 kB)
Figure 18: Live Poll Question 18: Preservation & Conservation at Your Library?
19_skill_needs.png (70 kB)
Figure 19: Live Poll Question 19: What needed collection skills would you like to develop?
20_sessn_particip_closing_thoughts.png (151 kB)
Figure 20: Live Poll Question 20: Your closing thoughts: free-form & open-ended.
Legacy Missions in Times of Change: Defining and Shaping Collections in the 21st Century
Despite the rapidly changing information and technology landscape, collections remain at the heart of academic libraries, signifying their enduring importance in providing access to our cultural heritage. Given broader trends in research and the current information ecology of an increasingly networked, distributed, and licensed environment, building collections and developing collection polices is increasingly ambiguous. These trends impact librarians in form of ever-expanding portfolios, diffusion of effort, weakened sense of focus, and a rising sense of persistent yet unmet needs for developing new skills. This paper outlines current research on collection trends and summarizes the interactive exchanges from the 2019 Charleston Conference Lively Session (https://sched.co/UZR5). Through live polling, session participants identified key trends in libraries and collections: Key trends included business models, budget constraints, consortium deals, continued importance of subscribed content, access vs. ownership, digitization of unique local collections, digital humanities, digital scholarship, library publishing projects, growing library investments in Open Access (OA), and collection diversification efforts with a view to equity and social justice. Among emerging library services, data services and digitization ranked highest in importance. The most-cited wish-list items included transformative deals, stronger campus partnerships, more OA projects, reduced copyright barriers in sharing homegrown digitized video content, as well as skill development in Counter 5 and data analysis. Existing physical and digital preservation programs received only lower-middle strength ratings. Among long-established library characteristics, collection policies, subscribed content, interlibrary loan, and consortial borrowing and lending retained enduring value and high rankings in importance. Tensions continue between ownership, borrowing, and access.