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Topic: Libraries

Blog Post
April 28, 2020

Five strategies for humanely conducting surveys in higher ed during a global crisis

The world has changed drastically in the last few months and so have the challenges that are facing our communities. Decision-making informed by evidence, gathered and acted upon quickly, is as important—if not more important—than it has ever been for higher education leaders. These are not normal circumstances for conducting research, let alone working or living. Under normal circumstances, my colleagues and I might start the development of a major survey by building an advisory board…
Blog Post
April 21, 2020

Research Library Digitization Has Found Its Moment 

Long-term Investments Pay Off and Provide Lessons for the Future

Academic libraries have been on the leading edge of universities’ digital transformation for two decades. As a result, they were prepared for this moment of crisis. The broader lesson here, not just for libraries but for the entire higher education sector, is to continue investing “just in case” in enabling capacities—rather than, in this time of looming cutbacks, budgeting narrowly for today’s immediate needs only.  Recent weeks have seen the collapse of…
Blog Post
April 14, 2020

Technologies at Hand

On Researcher Practices During a Pandemic

On March 25 I had the privilege of giving the introductory talk to NISO’s virtual conference on Research Behaviors and the Impact of Technology. The relationship between research behaviors and technology is a topic I have a birdseye view on through my work at Ithaka S+R, where I oversee a program examining scholars’ research practices discipline-by-discipline and we conduct a US-wide faculty survey triennially. The event was always already virtual and I found myself preparing amidst the…
Blog Post
April 6, 2020

Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic

Archiving the Present for Future Research

As we go through the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we are inundated by articles, images, video, statistics, and graphs through our handhelds and desktops coming from a variety of channels–including social media, news outlets, journals, and preprints. The sources of information expand from governmental agencies to research institutions, from policy makers to advocacy groups. And now archivists and others are asking how we can archive these rich and diverse sources of information–not only for future generations but also for…
Blog Post
April 2, 2020

The Latest US Library Survey

Since 2010, Ithaka S+R has fielded its triennial survey of academic library directors to track evolving strategies and priorities across the sector. Today we release findings from the 2019 survey cycle, which was fielded from October to December 2019. Much has obviously changed in the world since then. Most notably, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the plans of not only academic libraries but higher education as a whole. As we face an uncertain future,…
Research Report
April 2, 2020

Ithaka S+R US Library Survey 2019

Every three years Ithaka S+R conducts our Library Survey to track the changing strategic directions and priorities of the deans and directors of academic libraries. The data are gathered during a relatively brief window of approximately four weeks. In the case of this most recent survey cycle, that moment in time was the fall of 2019, well before any of us had heard of COVID-19.
Past Event
March 25, 2020

Researcher Behaviors and the Impact of Technology

Danielle Cooper Speaks at Virtual NISO Conference

On Wednesday, March 25, Danielle Cooper is presenting at NISO’s virtual conference on Researcher Behaviors and the Impact of Technology. Her talk, “Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication: Accessible, Ubiquitous Technologies & Their Affordances for Research,” is from 12:15-12:45. For more information on the conference, please see NISO’s website. About the presentation When we think of what technologies have the potential to drive research forward our minds often alight to exciting new developments that…
Blog Post
March 24, 2020

First This, Now That: A Look at 10-Day Trends in Academic Library Response to COVID19

This is the third analysis of results from the Academic Library Response to COVID19 survey, which we deployed on March 11 in order to gather as-it-happens data from and for the academic library community. Libraries were encouraged to not only log their current status but to also come back to retake the survey as circumstances evolved. The first update was received that same day at 11 pm, illustrating just how quickly things have been…
Blog Post
March 16, 2020

Dispatches from the Higher Ed #covidclassroom

Teaching and Learning Edition

As the response to COVID-19 intensifies across the US and Canada, higher education institutions are responding by shifting classes online and adjusting pedagogical expectations en masse. Comprehensive tracking of campus closures and academic library responses provides an essential birdseye view of the sector’s response to the pandemic and there are a wealth of resources and case studies about best practices but what is…
Blog Post
March 15, 2020

Academic Library Strategies Shift to Closure and Restriction

The Next 48 Hours of Academic Library Response to COVID19 

For the most recent findings see First This, Now That: A Look at 10-Day Trends in Academic Library Response to COVID19 On Wednesday, March 11, at 8:00 pm ET, we deployed the “Academic Library Response to COVID19” survey in order to gather as-it-happens data from and for the academic library community. On Friday we presented our analysis of the first 24 hours of responses (n=213). Today we…
Blog Post
March 13, 2020

Academic Library Response to COVID19

The First 24 Hours of Survey Data

For the most recent findings see First This, Now That: A Look at 10-Day Trends in Academic Library Response to COVID19 On Wednesday, March 11, at 8:00 pm ET, we deployed the “Academic Library Response to COVID19” survey in order to gather as-it-happens data from and for the academic library community. Today we are sharing a summary of the responses from the 213 libraries that responded in the first 24 hours. …
Blog Post
March 4, 2020

Project Announcement: Cancelling the Big Deal

As Big Deal spending has come to occupy a greater and greater share of materials budgets, libraries are increasingly questioning the status quo of their Big Deal subscriptions. Recent years have seen a number of prominent cancellations, precipitated by questions about the value of the subscription materials. In 2020 we expect this trend to continue with libraries becoming increasingly assertive in their negotiating stance with publishers. This may yield some interesting compromise agreements,…
Blog Post
March 3, 2020

(Un)attending the #ELI2020Unconference

I was excitedly awaiting my first ELI Annual Meeting on Sunday afternoon when I received the disappointing news that it was called off. Due to growing concerns over COVID-19, the conference organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the meeting. Although an appropriate decision, many presenters, like me, were left with many hours worth of work with no way of presenting it. Personally, I was planning on presenting my poster—…
Past Event
April 23, 2020

Restructuring Library Consortia

Roger Schonfeld at the CRL Annual Meeting

On Thursday, April 23, at 11:15 am,  Roger Schonfeld will deliver a talk on “Restructuring Library Consortia” at the CRL Annual Members Meeting in Chicago. For more information, please see the CRL website. About the meeting What risks and opportunities do library consortia face, and what is the future of collective enterprises for global information services? Today’s Center for Research Libraries represents a partnership among over 200 voting member institutions across the United States and Canada, an enduring model…
Past Event
March 12, 2020

Unbarring Access to Higher Education in Prison

Danielle Cooper and Meagan Wilson at SXSW EDU

This event has been cancelled. On Thursday, March 12, from 2:00-3:00 pm, Danielle Cooper and Meagan Wilson will be discussing “Unbarring Access to Higher Education in Prison” as part of a panel at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas. They will be joined on the panel by Terrell Blount (Laughing Gull Foundation) and Jody Lewen (Prison University Project). For more information about the conference, please see the SXSW EDU website. About the panel Access to higher education in prison has…
Blog Post
February 18, 2020

Progress in Biomedical Data Sharing

Headlines from the Recent NIH Workshop

The biomedical sciences have been a key focus area for efforts to promote research data sharing. Effective data management and sharing policies have the potential to improve research efficiency and accuracy, with real implications for human health. Last week, I attended a workshop hosted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on “Establishing a FAIR Biomedical Data Ecosystem: The Role of Generalist and Institutional Repositories to Enhance Data Discovery and Reuse.” NIH has been making significant…
Blog Post
February 12, 2020

Now Available: Research Toolkit for Developing Services and Assessing Student Needs

Over the past three years, we partnered with a group of seven colleges looking to more effectively support their students by providing new and strengthened services from the library and beyond. Across these colleges, we interviewed dozens of students and later surveyed over 10,000 to examine their goals, challenges, and unmet needs. The project was led by Northern Virginia Community College and Ithaka S+R, with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)…
Blog Post
February 11, 2020

The Case for Academic Libraries and “College Fluency”

Students struggle with a variety of challenges outside of the classroom that affect their academic success–balancing family, household, work, and school responsibilities, having enough money to pay for courses and basic needs, and navigating college resources and services. When presented via survey with a series of possible interventions to address these needs, students expressed great interest in having more support in navigating information related to the college experience, as described in this service…
Past Event
April 21, 2020

Roger Schonfeld at the International Coalition of Library Consortia

On April 21-22, Roger Schonfeld is presenting twice at the 2020 North American ICOLC Meeting in Columbia, South Carolina.  On Tuesday, April 21, at 2:00 pm, Roger and Gwen Evans (OhioLINK) will speak on “It’s Not What Libraries Hold; It’s Who Libraries Serve Seeking a User-Centered Future for Academic Libraries.”  On Wednesday, April 22, at 10:30 am, Roger is presenting on “Market Consolidation in Information Industry. ” More information is available on the ICOLC event site.
Past Event
March 19, 2020

National Academy of Sciences Journal Summit

Roger Schonfeld Moderates Panel of Deans of Research

This event has been postponed. We will update the event when we have additional information. On Thursday, March 19, at 2:15 pm, Roger Schonfeld is moderating a panel of deans of research at the National Academy of Sciences Journal Summit in Washington DC. The panel includes John Bixby (University of Miami), Susan Martinis (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Padma Raghavan (Vanderbilt University), and Keith Yamamoto (University of California San Francisco). The working agenda for the summit is available here.