Blog
December 8, 2022
College Fluency Capacity Building
BMCC Library and Ithaka S+R Launch New Research Project
We’re excited to announce that the Borough of Manhattan Community College Library and Ithaka S+R are partnering on new IMLS-funded research exploring librarians’ role in college fluency. The College Fluency Capacity Building research project will equip library faculty and staff to address new and urgent challenges they are facing in their profession as they are called to meet the changing information needs of the students they serve.
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December 6, 2022
What Colleges Need to Know About Reentry
Takeaways from the Education Justice Project's Reentry Guide
The Education Justice Project (EJP) recently released its “National 2022 Interactive Reentry Guide, Mapping Your Future.” With the restoration of Pell funding for students in prison set to take effect July 1, 2023, it will be more important than ever for colleges and universities to build their awareness of the reentry process and the resources these students will need to support their success.
December 5, 2022
Coordinating Research Data Support Services Across Campus
Announcing a Second Cohort
This fall, Ithaka S+R announced a new cohort-based research and consulting project to help universities coordinate research data support services across campus. Demand for the first cohort has been overwhelming, making it clear just how timely and important this topic is to university leaders. For this reason, we are pleased to announce that we are organizing a second cohort so that more universities can participate in this project.
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November 30, 2022
Supporting Mobile Students to Credential Completion through Holistic Credit Mobility
People learn in more places than ever before—earning credits from high school or dual enrollment courses, picking up certifications for job advancement, gaining experience through the military, and more. While many colleges, universities, and employers have begun translating this accumulated learning into transcriptable credits, students frequently find that institutions will not count their previously accumulated credits.
November 18, 2022
Assessment Trends in the Late Pandemic Era
Reflections from the 2022 Library Assessment Conference
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant reevaluating approaches to, and the underlying goals of, assessment in academic libraries. Shifts to remote and hybrid work have accelerated digitization efforts and led libraries to rethink assessment, especially as perceptions of the library’s role and overarching purpose change. Against this backdrop, the Library Assessment Conference provided an important opportunity to take stock of how the field continues to evolve.
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November 16, 2022
New Insights on Trustees and Staff in Art Museums
The Black Trustee Alliance 2022 Art Museum Trustee Survey and the Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey 2022
Today Ithaka S+R releases two research reports, the 2022 Art Museum Trustee Survey and the Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey 2022, which introduce new insights into key constituencies in the cultural sector. For roughly a decade Ithaka S+R has produced research reports that shed light on strategy and leadership, staff demographics and employment characteristics, as well as governance and organizational structure within art museums.
October 31, 2022
Joining Hands to Improve Student Access to College
Successfully addressing student debt, transcript holds, and re-enrollment for adult learners often requires cross-organizational partnerships. The Ohio College Comeback Compact is doing exactly that in northeast Ohio. A regional collaborative of eight public colleges and universities, the Ohio Department of Higher Education, Ithaka S+R, and College Now Greater Cleveland, the Ohio Compact is an innovative program allowing students to return to one of the participating institutions despite owing institutional debt that likely resulted in a transcript hold.
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October 27, 2022
Announcing the 2022 Art Museum Director Survey
The leaders of art museums are responsible for the collection, programming, and employment strategies that influence the health and vibrancy of our public culture. In the years following the start of the pandemic and calls for racial justice after the murder of George Floyd, art museum directors' strategies have shifted towards a dramatic increase in virtual and digital programming, as well more highly prioritizing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, according to findings from the 2022 Art Museum Director Survey.
October 24, 2022
Reflections on NCHEP 2022
National Conference on Higher Education in Prisons
Organized by the Alliance for Higher Education in Prisons, the 12th National Conference on Higher Education in Prisons brought together educators, administrators, and current and former students of higher education in prison (HEP) programs to share information about challenges, trends, and changes in the HEP landscape. The theme for this year’s conference was “What’s Next?” and we were eager to learn what educators and administrators were focusing on and preparing for in the proposed legislation.
October 12, 2022
The Library Director Survey 2022 is Live!
We are excited to announce the launch of the 2022 Ithaka S+R Library Director Survey. In order to track high-level strategic and leadership perspectives across the field, we conduct a national survey of academic library deans and directors every three years. Consistent with previous survey cycles, this iteration of the study will provide insights into issues of strategic priorities, budgeting, staffing, and collections, as well as introduce new questions designed to track emerging trends in the field.
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October 11, 2022
CFPB Ends Transcript Withholding for Students Owing Institutional Loans
Last week, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued new guidance that postsecondary institutions cannot withhold academic transcripts from students owing past due institutional loan payments. The action is part of a series of decisions aimed at regulating institutionally-based aid programs such as loans and Income Share Agreements, or ISAs. This move protects some students with stranded credits, or credits students have earned but cannot document because of a past due balance.
September 27, 2022
Supporting Quantitative Learning in the Social Sciences
New Report Details Challenges and Opportunities
Social science classes play important roles in teaching quantitative literacy to students because they ground quantitative reasoning in contexts that resonate with undergraduates. Understanding how social science instructors teach quantitative skills and identifying instructional barriers can help libraries and other university units support faculty and students. Today, Ithaka S+R releases findings from one of the largest in-depth studies of teaching practices across social science disciplines, conducted in partnership with librarians from 20 colleges and universities in the United States.
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September 22, 2022
Better Serving Library Patrons Behind Bars
New Project to Expand Public, State, Law, Prison, and Academic Library Collaboration
Over the past several years, public, state, academic, and law libraries have increasingly sought to serve people in prison through a variety of services. Now, with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Ithaka S+R is undertaking a planning project that will set the stage for future partnerships to develop and pilot wrap-around library services to meet the information needs of people who are currently incarcerated.
September 15, 2022
Community Reflections on Ithaka S+R’s report about Digital Preservation and Curation Systems
In July 2022, we shared our findings from a broad examination of the digital preservation and curation systems landscape, drawn in part from deep dives into a number of third-party preservation platforms. Along with this research, we’ve held a series of online forums to gather feedback on the report from the community. Here, we synthesize what we heard during five invitation-only and three open webinars with 253 people, including preservation service providers, curation specialists, technologists, and more.
September 13, 2022
Reflections on the 2022 Correctional Education Association (CEA) Conference
As the professional association for Department of Corrections (DOC) education staff, the Correctional Education Association conference is an important opportunity for sharing and learning about the latest trends, trailblazers, and trials facing those who provide education in prisons. With the restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated college students now less than a year away, we were eager to hear how DOC education leadership and staff were responding to this major shift in the field.
September 7, 2022
Comments on the Department of Education’s Proposed Regulations for Pell Grant Restoration for Incarcerated People
Effective July 1, 2023, incarcerated people will once again be eligible to receive Pell grants to support their education, ending a 29 year ban. Below we publish Ithaka S+R’s letter to the Department of Education, outlining our concerns and providing recommendations that would help ensure that people who are incarcerated in the United States are provided the opportunity to participate in and benefit from a quality education.
September 6, 2022
Coordinating Research Data Support Services Across Campus
Announcing the Launch of a New Cohort-Based Research and Consulting Project
Data-intensive research methods are used by researchers in a wide and growing number of disciplines and are now central to the research enterprise. As these methods spread, universities are making significant investments in developing campus services to provide critical support for big data research. We are excited to announce a project that will bring together a select cohort of librarians and campus representatives to develop strategies for coordinating campus data support services.
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August 31, 2022
The Importance and Risks of Institutional Borrowing
New Report with TIAA Institute
While student loan debt has ballooned to over $1.7 trillion, institutional debt, or money colleges and universities borrow as organizations, is frequently overlooked as a significant factor in higher education finance. With support from the TIAA Institute, Ithaka S+R examined institutional borrowing practices. Specifically, we examined how periods of crisis and financial strain impact the decision to borrow and identified institutional characteristics linked to growth in debt levels during the 2008 Great Recession.
August 26, 2022
Remembering Deanna Marcum
Kevin M. Guthrie, Kate Wittenberg, Roger C. Schonfeld, Martin Kurzweil, Laura Brown, Catharine Bond Hill
We are so terribly sad about the passing of our beloved colleague Deanna Marcum on August 16, 2022. Deanna was a humble and private person, so she would not want a lot of attention focused on her, but her impact on me and us here at ITHAKA is so profound that we must recognize and share it. I first met Deanna in 1996, when she was the president of the Council of Library…
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August 23, 2022
Understanding Archivists
Insights from the A*CENSUS II: All Archivists Survey Report
Earlier this week, we published the findings from the A*CENSUS II: All Archivists Survey, the first national survey in 17 years designed to gather information about the demographics, education levels, job placement, salaries, and student loan debt of archivists and community memory workers. The survey also explored the extent to which this community views the archival profession as inclusive, equitable, and diverse. Nearly 6,000 archivists took the time to share their experiences through the survey.