Academic Libraries: the Changing Knowledge Centersof Colleges and Universities
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 259 689 HE 018 685 AUTHOR Moran, Barbara B. TITLE Academic Libraries: The Changing Knowledge Centersof Colleges and Universities. ASHE-ERIC HigherEducation Research Report No.8, 1984. INSTITUTION Association for the Study of Higher Education.; ERIC ClearinghouJe on Higher Education, Washington, D.C. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC. REPORT NO ISBN-0-913317-17-9 PUB DATE 84 CONTRACT 400-82-0011 NOTE 109p. AVAILABLE FROMAssociation for the Study of Higher Education, Department PR-8, One DupontCircle, Suite 630, Washington, DC ($7.50). PUB TYPE Information Analyses ERIC Information Analysis Products (071) -- Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Academic Libraries; *Change Strategies; College Administration; *College Libraries; ComputerOriented Programs; Cooperative Programs;Economic Factors; Higher Education; *Information Dissemination; *Librarians; Library Acquisition; Library Administration; *Library Automation; Library Collection Development; Library Education;Library Networks; Online Searching; PersonnelPolicy; Technological Advancement ABSTRACT Changes occu...ring in college libraries as aresult of automation are described, along withfinancial issues in library management, personnel issues, andchanging patterns of collection development and resource sharing. New developmentsinclude online public access catalogs, computer-generatedbibliographies, online search systems, and computerized librarynetworks that enable sharing of cataloging records. To promote theconversion to modern information services, library directors needmanagerial, leadership, and fund-raising skills. In addition to agrowing number of academic librarians who have been given faculty status,the library school curriculum and the credentials needed bybeginning librarians have changed in response to modern developments. As aresult of the tremendous growth in the volume and costsof publications, campus libraries have been unable to maintainprevious levels of collection development. Examples of resource sharing,which addresses this difficulty, are identified. Also considered are newformats in library collections (e.g., video discs), andthe problem of preserving library materials. Recommendationsconcerning planning, financial support of libraries, and cooperativelibrary ventures are included. (SW) ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: The ChangingKnowledge Centers of Colleges U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION and Universities NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION Barbara B. Moran CENTER (ERIC) :,,Thedocumenthas been reproduced as received from the personor organization ASHEER1C originating it Higher Education Minor changes have been madeto mprove Research Reports 1984 reproduction qualitv Points of view or opinions statedin this docu meat do not necessarily represent ASH* EPITC official NIE Irniaimmemmemeginieposition _de BEST COPY AVAILAW.: Academic Libraries: The Changing Knowledge Centers of Colleges and Universities by Barbara B. Moran ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Research Report No. 8, 1984 Prepared by irepirdi®Clearinghouse on Higher Education The George Washington University Published by ASH* Association for the Study of Higher Education Jonathan D. Fife, Series Editor Cite as: Moran. Barbara B.Academic Libraries: The Changing knowledge Centors of Colleges and Unit ersities.ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Research Report No. FtWashington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education, 1984. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education invites individuals to submit proposals fir writing monoesaphs for the Higher Education Research Report series. Proposals must include: I. A detailed manuscript proposal of not more than five pages. 2. A 75-word summary to be used by several review committees for the initial screening and rating of each proposal. 3. A vita. 4. A writing sample. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 85.61910 ISSN 0737-1292 ISBN 0-913317-17-9 WV; rClearinghouse on Higher Education The George Washington University One Dupont Circle, Suite 630 Washington, D.C. 20036 *fibAssociation for the Study of Higher Education One Dupont Orcle, Suite 630 ,',ington, D.C. 20036 This publication was partiall'; prepared with funding from the Na- tional Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. 400-82-0011. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of NIE or the De- partment. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The libraries of America's colleges and universities are in the midst of a period of unprecedented change and adjustment. Academic libraries have never been static organizations; they have existed within and responded to changes in the institu- tions of higher education they serve. The typical academic library has grown from a one-room affair open only a few hours a week to a complex organization employing a large staff and housing hundreds of thousands of volumes. Tbday's academic libraries are facing a series of challenges that arise from factors both internal and external to the library itself. As libraries, the primary information resources on campuses, enter the so-called "information age:' they face a number of common problems. Libraries' responses to these challenges will determine the shape of the academic library of the future. What Effect Will New Technology Have on Academic Libraries? New technological developments have already profoundly affected academic libraries. Almost every function carried out in a library has been altered to some extent by advances in electronics, computerization, and telecommunications. At one time, for example, each library largely did its own cataloging. In 1971, the first online shared cataloging system was estab- lished. More of these bibliographic utilities have since been established, and now most cataloging in academic libraries is produced through the shared cataloging database of one of these utilities. Services for users have been greatly expanded by the use of online bibliographic search services, which became common in the 1970s. Instead of manually searching indexes to find citations or produce bibliographies, a trained searcher can manipulate a computer database that produces the same results in a matter of minutes. Interlibrary loan, library acquisitions, and chtulation have all benefited from the use of computerized systems. Many academic libraries now have elec- tronic antitheft devices to retard unauthorized "borrowing" from the collection. Photocopying machines have changed library users' note-taking patterns in less than a generation. These developments, immense as they have been, are merely forerunners of the technologies that will be common in libraries of the future. Some libraries have already introduced online public access catalogs to replace traditional card cata- logs. Some libraries are using new methods of information storage, such as digitally encoded video discs. Future inter- library loans will bypass the postal system and use new methods, such as digital telefacsimile, for document delivery. Libraries will indeed live in a "brave new world," but they will find technology very expensive. Despite earlier hopes that automation might if A to reduced costs, such reductions have yet to be realized. Technology provides us Milt many options, only some of which we can afford. But we must recognize clearly that in applying technology to the service of scholarship,insome areas we have no choice. We are not replacing traditional services because we prefer the new gadgetry but because we no longer have the resources necessary to make the old ways effec- tive in the current environment(Battin 1982a, pp. 581-82). How Can Libraries Meet the Rising Cost of Materials? The acquisition budgets of academic libraries in the 1970s were not able to keep pace with the soaring prices of library materials. Prices for both books and journals ran far ahead of general inflation. The serious erosion of the buying power of the library's acquisition budget occurred at the same time that financial problems became severe throughout all of higher education. Thus, colleges and univer- sities were unable to provide sufficient funds for library budgets to keep pace with inflation. At the same time, the output from pub- lishers increased dramatically, with the result that libraries added a smaller percentage of the published literature to their collections. Academic libraries, even those that pride themselves on their extensive collections, have reluctantly realized that they can no longer acquire and house comprehensive book collections. The con- sensus is that no library, however large, can afford to achieve self- sufficiency; thus, networks must be established to permit the cooper- ative sharing of library resources. The time has come to accelerate "the trend away from each library being a self-contained unit, toward a system in which the library will be a service center, capable of linking users to national bibliographic files and distant collections" (National Enquiry 1979, p. 159). Many library users, who would prefer to see their libraries continue to purchase the bulk of the scholarly materials they need, will likely resist this new emphasis on access rather than acquisition. Nonetheless, it is inevitable that collection development policies, especially in large libraries, will respond to new economic realities. The formation of consortia and the development of a national cooperative strategy promise con- tinued access by scholars to the world's literature at a less