DEFINING RELEVANCY i Recent Titles in The Libraries Unlimited Library Management Collection Leadership and Academic Librarians Terrence F. Mech and Gerard B. McCabe, editors Planning for a New Generation of Public Library Buildings Gerard B. McCabe Leadership and Administration of Successful Archival Programs Bruce W. Dearstyne, editor Video Collection Development in Multi-type Libraries: A Handbook, Second Edition Gary Handman, editor Expectations of Librarians in the 21st Century Karl Bridges, editor The Modern Public Library Building Gerard B. McCabe and James R. Kennedy, editors Human Resource Management in Today’s Academic Library: Meeting Challenges and Creating Opportunities Janice Simmons-Welburn and Beth McNeil, editors Exemplary Public Libraries: Lessons in Leadership, Management and Service Joy M. Greiner Managing Information Technology in Academic Libraries: A Handbook for Systems Librarians Patricia Ingersoll and John Culshaw The Evolution of Library and Museum Partnerships: Historical Antecedents, Contempo- rary Manifestations and Future Directions Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb It’s All About Student Learning: Managing Community and Other College Libraries in the 21st Century Gerard B. McCabe and David R. Dowell, editors Our New Public, A Changing Clientele: Bewildering Issues or New Challenges for Managing Libraries? James R. Kennedy, Lisa Vardaman, and Gerard B. McCabe, editors ii DEFINING RELEVANCY Managing the New Academic Library Edited by Janet McNeil Hurlbert LIBRARIES UNLIMITED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT COLLECTION Gerard B. McCabe, Series Editor iii Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Defining relevancy : managing the new academic library / edited by Janet McNeil Hurlbert. p. cm. — (Libraries Unlimited library management collection, ISSN 1557–0320) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–59158–419–3 (alk. paper) 1. Academic libraries—Administration. 2. Academic libraries—United States. I. Hurlbert, Janet McNeil. Z675.U5D368 2008 025.1'977—dc22 2007039210 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2008 by Libraries Unlimited All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2007039210 ISBN: 978–1–59158–419–3 ISSN: 1557–0320 First published in 2008 Libraries Unlimited, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 A Member of the Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.lu.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 iv CONTENTS Introduction ix Janet McNeil Hurlbert I. Analyzing Our Users: Making the Connection 1. Changing Demographics: Meet the Students and Faculty of the Future 3 Christopher Cox 2. Social Software, Web 2.0, and Libraries 16 Edward M. Corrado II. The Integration of Form and Function: Buildings and Services 3. Place Planning for Libraries: The Space Near the Heart of the College 35 Eleanor Mitchell 4. The New 3R’s: Revolution, Reorganization, and Renovation 52 Susan M. Campbell 5. A Future Place for Us: Results of a Survey on the Academic Library “As a Place” 65 Jason Martin v CONTENTS III. Collaboration for Learning: Managing Information Literacy 6. Rhetoric versus Reality: A Faculty Perspective on Information Literacy Instruction 85 Arthur H. Sterngold 7. Faculty and Information Literacy Case Study 96 Emmett Lombard and Sally LeVan 8. Through the Information Literacy Lens: Managing the College Library in the Twenty-First Century 119 Susan Swords Steffen IV. Promoting the Library: Competition and Collaboration 9. Campus Partnership in Small Academic Libraries: Challenges and Rewards 131 Patricia Hernas and Timothy Karas 10. Collaboration in Small and Medium-Sized Academic Libraries 146 David P. Bunnell V. Integration of Staff, Services, and Assessment: What Is Needed? How Will We Know? Who Will Do It? 11. Managing to Keep Academic Reference Service 161 Christine Dettlaff 12. Community College Library Staffing: Evolution and Revolution 170 Sheila Beck and Barbara Bonous-Smit 13. From Slide Rules to Scorecards: Service Environment Factors Affecting the Future of Assessment in Academic Libraries 178 Larry Nash White 14. Big Growth Is Not a Small Strategy 186 Michael A. Crumpton 15. From Predictability to Managed Chaos: The Change from Print Serials to Electronic Resource Management—Indiana University, Kokomo Campus 200 Kirsten Leonard 16. Is There a Future for Technical Services? 213 Amy E. Badertscher vi CONTENTS VI. Connections for College Archives: Taking on New Missions 17. Opportunities for Small and Medium-Sized College Archives in the Digital Age 223 Carol P. Johnson and Ann M. Kenne VII. Issues and Challenges for the Future: A Bibliographic Essay 18. The Academic Library: Issues and Challenges for the Future 237 Susan Naylor and Rashelle Karp Index 265 About the Editor and Contributors 271 vii viii INTRODUCTION Janet McNeil Hurlbert Connection. Competition. Collaboration. These three words define management of college libraries today and in the future. They also describe the contents of the chapters in this book, which focus on planning for the multiple directions that must be considered and effectively acted on by college library managers. Academic libraries, especially in a smaller college setting, changed little over the decades. The early history of American college libraries tells us that in 1876 the most pressing issue was whether students should have access to the shelves (Holley 1977, 15). For many years the answer to usage problems within the li- brary emphasized organization—cataloging and classification. Providing persons assistance was seen as impractical by the profession (McElderry 1977, 62) and unneeded if you could just get the arrangement right. Humorous as these obser- vations may be now, it really has not been so long since technical services staff outnumbered public services; the fundamental purpose of library instruction was designed to tell 30 (or more) students something at the same time rather than individually at the reference desk; the chief features of new buildings emphasized housing the ever-increasing collection; and college libraries felt totally secure in their role on campus. As technology became a central focus for libraries, it was specialized technology—reserved for providing or processing research infor- mation. The pace was increasingly frantic and consuming. Librarians at smaller colleges bemoaned that they couldn’t afford more technology, but their role was still secure. With the full incorporation of the Web on college campuses and in the daily lives of our students, suddenly whether students had open access to the ix INTROducTION shelves or to the most recent issue of a particularly popular periodical was no longer a quandary. Despite the information literacy movement that is tied very closely to the curriculum (or should be), we find ourselves in a world where we, as managers, can go many days without feeling that we are educators. We have had to take on new roles and concerns that resemble the business world, and we have begun to think like our public library counterparts who, for years, have had to adopt business models if they wished to be successful within their communities. O’Connor (2007) discusses the characteristics of the new library manager. He asserts that we will need to plan for futures that we may not completely un- derstand, serving and working with people who are very unlike us in outlooks and habits. The managers of today and the future must be effective in gathering evidence and making informed judgments. “They will have to work confidently with uncertainty” (16). The Association of College and Research Libraries issued a report on the top 10 assumptions that will have a significant impact on library planning for the next 10 years (Mullins, Allen, and Hufford 2007, 240). While some of these as- sumptions acknowledge the logical extensions of much of what we have always done by emphasizing changing materials formats, intellectual property rights, and privacy issues, they also highlight the growing business nature of the institutions we serve. The sensible conclusion on our part is that we, too, must run more of a business operation, especially since another assumption is that “students will increasingly view themselves as customers and consumers” (Mullines et al. 2007, 241). The corporate model is very much a part of an Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) study on college libraries in which the question is asked, “What is the ‘Library’ brand?” (2006, 6-5), and the report concludes with a call for re- juvenation. Competition is a major concern in the business world and in ours as well. The good news about our “customers” is that college students use libraries more than the average population (OCLC 2006, 6–5). The bad news is that it is no longer the first place they look for information, and they are a confident lot. For ex- ample, surveys administered at my small college used to show incoming freshmen overwhelmed by our 180,000-volume library. Now confidence abounds because of search engines and Web sites that students have used in high school research. Even with faculty dedicated to undergraduate teaching, librarians compete as we try to push our information literacy agenda amidst the other across-the- curriculum programs in writing, speaking, critical thinking, and technology.