This book starts from the premise that the last decade has brought more changes for the academic research library than any ever previously known. The book provides an authoritative overview and analysis of the issues and challenges affecting academic research libraries from the closing years of the 20th century onwards. While the focus on this period of white water change is primarily British, with a number of case studies based on the transformative initiatives of the UKs Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and its seminal Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), as well as on the Bodleian Libraries far-reaching responses to the complex demands of the digital age, the issues themselves are presented in their global context, with implications drawn for research libraries everywhere. Written by one of the worlds leading academic research librarians Provides a comprehensive overview of the factors at work in an exceptionally significant and fast-moving decade of research library development Contains personal insights into many of the key library and information initiatives of recent years

In the midst of a decade of extraordinary change in academic libraries--change driven by information technology, new approaches to teaching and learning, new models for scholarly communication, and new expectations for the ways we will discover, share, and make use of information--there is nothing so important to the future of the library and its continued place at the heart of the academic enterprise than its people and the expertise that they bring to the design, development, and delivery of library services. What will those services be, and who will provide them? The Expert Library provides an overview of the changing dynamics entailed in recruiting and retaining academic library professionals for the 21st century and contains fresh thinking and insights into what will be required to ensure continued library relevance and success through its people. --Publisher's description.

Academic libraries are in the midst of significant disruption. Academic librarians and university administrators know they need to change, but are not sure how. Bits and pieces of what needs to happen are clear, but the whole picture is hard to grasp. Reimagining the Academic Library paints a simple straightforward picture of the changes affecting academic libraries and what academic librarians need to do to respond to the changes would help to guide future library practice. The aim is to explain where academic libraries need to go and how to get there in a book that can be read in a weekend. David Lewis provides a readable survey of the current state of academic library practice and proposes where academic libraries need to go in the future to provide value to their campuses. His primary focus is on collections as this is the area with the greatest opportunity for change and is the driver of most library cost. Lewis provides an accessible framework for thinking about how library practice needs to adjust in the digital environment. The book will be useful not only to academic librarians, but also for librarians to share with presidents and provosts who a concise source for understanding where and how to focus their expenditures on libraries.

Presenting strategies for improving academic library services for first-generation students, this timely book focuses on programs and services that will increase student academic engagement and success. Demographic data and secondary school graduation rates suggest that colleges and universities will enroll growing numbers of first-generation students over the next decade. Academic Library Services for First-Generation Students focuses on ways academic libraries can uniquely contribute to the successful transition to college and year-to-year retention of first-generation students. The practical recommendations in this book include a wide range of ideas for the design and modification of library services and facilities to be more inclusive of the needs of first-generation students. All of the recommendations are specifically aimed at addressing challenges faced by first-generation students. Topics covered range from study spaces and service points to information literacy instruction and campus partnerships. The book makes the case—both explicitly and implicitly—that academic libraries can help address known risk factors (e.g., by helping students build academic cultural competencies) and thereby improve success, persistence, and retention for first-generation students. Academic library professionals in both leadership roles and public service positions will benefit from the actionable strategies presented here.

This book advances the belief that the library--more than any other cultural institution--collects, curates and distributes the results of human thought. Essays broaden the debate about academic libraries beyond only professional circles, promoting the library as a vital resource for the whole of higher education. Topics range from library histories to explorations of changing media. Essayists connect modern libraries to the remarkable dream of Alexandria's ancient library--facilitating groundbreaking research in every imaginable field of human interest, past, present and future. Academic librarians who are most familiar with historical traditions are best qualified to promote the library as an important aspect of teaching and learning, as well as to develop resources that will enlighten future generations of readers. The intellectual tools for compelling, constructive conversation come from the narrative of the library in its many iterations, from the largest research university to the smallest liberal arts or community college.

At the 1989 annual meeting of the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) used a think tank as a dynamic mechanism for exploring future directions both in the discipline of library user education and for the Bibliographic Instruction (BI) Section of ACRL. Discussion centered on the following issues: primary user groups and how have they changed during the past decade; how the curricular reform movement affects the content of bibliographic instruction programs; the appropriateness of information literacy as a phrase to characterize BI librarians' instructional programs for the upcoming decade; and how professional education programs in library and information science can respond to changes. The four discussion issues suggested necessary change or transition, particularly for BI, but more broadly affecting reference and public service, library missions and goals, and the educational focus of the library and information science profession. The eight papers included in the collection are: (1) "Bridging the Gap between the Think Tanks" (Donald Kenney); (2) "The Think Tank Papers: Are We in the Ball Park?" (Elizabeth Frick); (3) "Changing Users: Bibliographic Instruction for Whom?" (Lizabeth A. Wilson); (4) "The Changing User and the Future of Bibliographic Instruction: A Perspective from the Health Sciences Library" (James Shedlock); (5) "Curriculum Reform: The Role of Academic Libraries" (Maureen Pastine and Linda Wilson); (6) "Information Literacy: One Response to the New Decade" (Hannelore Rader and William Coons); (7) "Education for the Second Generation of Bibliographic Instruction Librarians" (Martha L. Hale); and (8) "The Future of Bibliographic Instruction and Information Literacy for the Academic Librarian" (William Miller). "Educational Roles of Academic Libraries: State of the Art and an Agenda for the Future" (Randall Hensley and Beth Sandore), a summary document from the conference, is appended. (JLB)