Topic: Libraries
Blog Post
January 11, 2023
The Library’s Role with Open Educational Resources
A Conversation with Librarians
Our latest US Faculty Survey examined faculty perspectives and attitudes about using and creating Open Educational Resources (OER). Not only were we able to track how these perspectives changed over time, but we were also able to understand how the pandemic affected OER consumption and creation. As expected, the adoption and creation of OER textbooks, course modules, and video lectures increased since the last national survey cycle, yet faculty indicated that they are less interested in creating and using…
Issue Brief
January 5, 2023
Copyright and Streaming Audiovisual Content in the US Context
Copyright law includes special rights for research and teaching, including the fair use right, which can help address gaps between the educational activities that technology facilitates and the exclusive rights copyright grants to authors. In this brief, we review how US copyright law currently applies to streaming content for educational and research purposes and explore the opportunities for academic libraries.
Blog Post
December 19, 2022
Collaborative Collection Development
A New IMLS-Funded Partnership
Ithaka S+R is proud to announce our participation in a new multi-institutional partnership to facilitate the cross-industry development of collaborative library collections. The project is generously funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant for Libraries, awarded to the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), the Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration & Innovation (PALCI), Lehigh University Libraries, and Ithaka S+R, along with 27 other partner organizations.
Blog Post
December 13, 2022
Building a Thriving Student Support Ecosystem
An Action Plan for Community Colleges
Community colleges have developed a variety of services to support their students’ success, but too often these offerings are siloed in different campus units, minimizing their impact. Over the past four years, Ithaka S+R has conducted IMLS-funded research to surface the most effective collaborative strategies to break down those siloes. This action plan summarizes best practices for faculty, librarians, administrators, and others as they implement these services.
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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.
Playbook
November 9, 2022
Leading by Diversifying Collections
A Guide for Academic Library Leadership
Academic libraries build collections in the context of their parent institutions—primarily to support the institution’s research, teaching, and learning mission. They also build collections that document and preserve the cultural and scientific heritage of our society to represent a wide range of perspectives. In these efforts, universities and their libraries are developing approaches that address calls for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with a focus on creating space for and the perspectives of historically marginalized groups.
Past Event
November 3, 2022
Licensing and Learning
What New Research Suggests About How Streaming Video Can Support Student Learning
In a session at the 2022 Charleston Conference, Ithaka S+R’s Dylan Ruediger will share findings from large-scale research Ithaka S+R conducted this spring regarding instructors’ use of streaming video in pedagogical contexts, and libraries’ decision making regarding streaming media licensing. The mixed-method research project raises important questions about the necessity for alignment across campus around how video can meet pedagogical goals. Dr. Adam Frost and Lisa Forrest will also present, and the panel will be moderated by Michael Carmichael. The…
Past Event
November 2, 2022
A Tipping Point to OA in the US?
Mapping the Road to Implementing the ‘Nelson Memo’
On November 2 at 4:00 – 4:40 pm ET, Ithaka S+R’s Danielle Miriam Cooper will participate in a session at the 2022 Charleston Conference on the significance of the Nelson Memo and implications for libraries and publishers. The event will feature a mix of policy analysis, debate, and informed forecasting. Other speakers include Daniel Sepulveda and Robert Kiley, and the session will be moderated by Julia Kostova. Learn more about the event here.
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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.
Research Report
September 27, 2022
Fostering Data Literacy
Teaching with Quantitative Data in the Social Sciences
“Fostering Data Literacy: Teaching with Quantitative Data in the Social Sciences” explores why and how instructors teach with data, identifies the most important challenges they face, and describes how faculty and students utilize relevant campus and external resources. Full details and actionable recommendations for stakeholders are offered in the body of the report, which offers guidance to university libraries and other campus units, faculty, vendors, and others interested in improving institutional capacities to support data-intensive instruction in the social sciences.
Past Event
November 4, 2022
Aligning the Research Library with the University’s Organizational Strategy
2022 Charleston Conference Panel
On Friday, November 4 at 12:15 – 1:00 pm, Ithaka S+R Vice President of Organizational Strategy and Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums Roger Schonfeld will chair a Charleston Conference session discussing an Ithaka S+R research report co-published with ARL and CARL, on aligning the research library with the university’s organizational strategy. The panel will feature perspectives from leaders at academic libraries about their institutional strategy and more, with K. Matthew Dames, Anne Houston, and Jennifer Fabbi. Learn more about the…
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
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.
Past Event
March 16, 2022
Serving 500,000 New Students
Planning for Pell Restoration for Incarcerated College Students
Effective July 2023 incarcerated people will again be eligible to receive Pell grants to support their education, ending a 29 year ban. How will academic libraries support an estimated 500,000 newly eligible incarcerated students? This ACRL panel brings together practitioners and researchers from a public, academic, and college in prison program library to discuss how libraries are currently providing services, and to share strategies for providing library access to incarcerated college students. Recognizing the power and importance of…
Blog Post
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.
Blog Post
August 26, 2022
Remembering Deanna Marcum
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…
Blog Post
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.