Topic: Libraries
Blog Post
August 17, 2021
Advancing Strategy through Staffing
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Library Leadership Roles
Following the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement, we have seen a notable rise in academic libraries’ public commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and even more so following the social justice protests of summer 2020. These include drafting statements positioning the library in opposition to hate crimes and police violence and shifting resources towards new programs and services that address the needs of a wider variety of patrons. Overseeing these initiatives—and…
Blog Post
August 4, 2021
New Questionnaire for the Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey 2021 Now Available
We’re excited to announce that we have now finalized updates for the 2021 edition of the Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey, which we will be fielding nationally and with a number of college and university partners this fall. As with previous cycles of the survey, the instrument will explore the research, teaching, and publishing practices and perspectives of scholars at four-year colleges and universities. We have also expanded several areas of coverage within the questionnaire to cover instructional support services,…
Blog Post
August 2, 2021
Leading Community College Libraries During the Pandemic
Library Directors Share Their Experiences
Community colleges and their students have faced enormous challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-year colleges serve especially diverse student populations, including a high percentage of students of color, first-generation students, working students, and student parents, many of whom have been disproportionately impacted by the social, economic, and public health effects of the pandemic. Community colleges have made considerable efforts to meet student needs, despite having fewer resources than most four-year colleges and universities…
Blog Post
July 26, 2021
SAA 2021 Annual Meeting
What to Watch For
Next month, archivists from across the country will convene virtually to discuss emerging and ongoing issues in the field at the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Annual Meeting, ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2021: Together/Apart. This year’s meeting will take place from August 4 to 6 (with some pre-conference activities earlier in the week) and will showcase 10 live sessions and 20 pre-recorded sessions with live Q&As. The conference will feature keynote speakers, general sessions, networking opportunities,…
Past Event
August 5, 2021
Makala Skinner at SAA’s ARCHIVES*RECORDS 2021
On August 5 and 6, join Makala Skinner to learn more about the A*CENSUS survey, which is a large scale census of archivists. The details for each session are below: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT on Thursday, August 5 Conversation Lounge: Research and Innovation @ SAA: A*CENSUS II SAA has received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to conduct a major research initiative: the second large-scale census of archivists. A lot has changed…
Blog Post
July 20, 2021
Making Streaming Media Sustainable for Academic Libraries
Launching a New Cohort-Based Collaborative Project
There has been an explosion of interest in streaming media marketed for educational purposes in recent years, and the shift to remote instruction during the pandemic has further accelerated that interest. This growing significance is also reflected in its overall share of library collections budgets: recent Ithaka S+R research found that streaming media currently represents about five percent of those budgets and that academic library directors across a diverse array of institutions project that this…
Blog Post
July 14, 2021
Why Survey Testing is Essential
Preparing to Field the US Faculty Survey 2021
Ithaka S+R is gearing up for our eighth launch of the US Faculty Survey this fall. This national survey has yielded longitudinal data on scholarly research and teaching behaviors across a variety of institutional and disciplinary contexts on a triennial basis since 2000. To maximize the value of this initiative for higher education leaders, scholarly societies, academic libraries, and publishers who have come to rely on these data, especially in light of the…
Past Event
August 19, 2021
What’s the Big Deal? How Researchers Are Navigating Changes to Journal Access
Oya Y. Rieger and Danielle Cooper Present at ASERL
In a webinar for ASERL on August 19 at 2:00 pm (EDT), Oya Y. Rieger and Danielle Cooper will present their findings on researcher behavior and perceptions on strategic decision-making about Big Deal journal subscriptions. For more information and to register, please follow this link. The abstract is available below. Abstract The dominant mode by which research libraries have provided maximum journal access as broadly and efficiently as possible—subscription bundles or “Big Deals”— is giving way to new…
Past Event
July 29, 2021
Lessons from Library Collaborations
Roger Schonfeld Speaks at the WEST Members Meeting
On Thursday, July 29, Roger Schonfeld will present on “Lessons from Library Collaborations” at the West Members Meeting. The event runs from 12:30 -2:00 pm PT. For more information, please visit the California Digital Library’s website. About the talk: Academic and research libraries have sought for more than a century to collaborate with one another in order to achieve wider and more efficient access to collections, generate greater negotiating power, and provide stronger systems and services. To succeed, library…
Past Event
July 28, 2021
Roger Schonfeld Moderates Panel at Charleston In Between
Clarivate Acquires ProQuest
On Wednesday, July 28, at 10:30 am, Roger Schonfeld is moderating a virtual panel on Clarivate’s acquisition of ProQuest (for more about the acquisition, please see Roger’s post on The Scholarly Kitchen). The panel includes the following speakers: Claudio Aspesi, Consultant, SPARC Michael Clarke, Managing Partner, Clarke & Esposito Gwen Evans, Vice President, Global Library Relations, Elsevier Dracine Hodges, Associate University Librarian for Technical Services, Duke University James Phimister, Managing Director, Market Development, Analytics, and Customer Insights, NEJM Group/New…
Blog Post
June 28, 2021
Evaluating Success in the Midst of a Protracted Pandemic
Four Guiding Principles
There was a “before” and there will be an “after,” but how do we evaluate success while at our current locus—somewhere in the nebulous middle of a prolonged pandemic? More than a year into the pandemic, many evaluations are being conducted using measures of success that were established in a radically different context. The environment has shifted, and the goals and definitions of success for items under evaluation—everything…
Past Event
June 24, 2021
Library Support for Equitable Access to Knowledge
Roger Schonfeld Speaks at Society for College and University Planning Webinar
On June 24, Roger Schonfeld will join higher education administrators, planners, designers, and library stakeholders to discuss the challenges to higher education in a changing world and how more deeply to engage libraries to enable institutional achievement. Abstract In a climate of anti-intellectualism, institutions of higher education remain committed to making knowledge accessible and translating research to help solve society’s pressing challenges. Libraries have long served as stewards of research publications and creative academic output, facilitating access. How are they…
Blog Post
June 22, 2021
New Report: What’s the Big Deal?
How Researchers Are Navigating Changes to Journal Access
Since 1996, the “Big Deal” has enabled academic libraries of all sizes to license bundled access to a publisher’s journal at a significant discount off the list prices. Over the years, as Big Deal spending has come to occupy a greater and greater share of materials budgets, libraries have come to question the value of their Big Deal subscriptions, with some opting to cancel or significantly alter their existing arrangements. Today we are thrilled to announce a…
Blog Post
June 22, 2021
Cancelling the Big Deal Project Spotlight
An Interview with Freie Universität Berlin with contributions from Dominik Hagel, Franziska Harnisch, Mario Kowalak, and Cosima Wagner
As university budgets face considerable strain and new models for providing open access to scholarly communication proliferate, academic libraries are increasingly pursuing alternatives to the “Big Deal” journal subscription model, including cancellation. But how are these strategies affecting researchers and what do they make of them? Over the past year Ithaka S+R has been studying the impact of Big Deal cancellations on its users in partnership with 11 academic libraries. Previous research has focused primarily on…
Research Report
June 22, 2021
What’s the Big Deal?
How Researchers Are Navigating Changes to Journal Access
The dominant mode by which research libraries have provided maximum journal access as cheaply as possible—subscription bundles or “Big Deals”—is giving way to new approaches. This transition is taking place through a combination of negotiations, activism, business modeling, user needs research, and decision support, among other factors. To support these processes, Ithaka S+R partnered with 11 academic libraries to understand researcher perceptions to help inform their ongoing strategic decision making about Big Deal journal subscriptions.
Blog Post
May 20, 2021
Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science
New NSF-Funded Collaboration between Ithaka S+R and the Data Curation Network
We are excited to announce that Ithaka S+R has been awarded grant funding from the National Science Foundation to support the development of infrastructures for data sharing within data communities in collaboration with the Data Curation Network. “Leveraging Data Communities to Advance Open Science,” will bring together scientists and information technology professionals for focused discussions about initiating and sustaining data communities. A unique opportunity to leverage data communities…
Blog Post
May 13, 2021
Archiving the Black Web 2021
Black culture is regularly marginalized in institutional libraries and archives. This phenomenon has been replicated virtually with the introduction of digital technologies and social media, and is in stark contrast with how Black users drive digital trends. For the past decade or more, a growing community from technical, academic, and cultural backgrounds have built a new discipline of study around research and practice in this space (the Black Web) so that Black culture online could receive the same—or better—attention and…
Blog Post
May 13, 2021
Announcing the Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey 2021
This fall, we are looking forward to fielding our triennial US Faculty Survey. This will be the eighth cycle of this long-standing research initiative through which we examine faculty research and teaching perspectives and practices across a variety of institutional and disciplinary contexts. Through this ongoing work, we have now mapped for over two decades the evolving attitudes and behaviors of scholars on a range of topics, including the discovery and access of scholarship, research dissemination and preservation, instructional methods…
Past Event
May 17, 2021
Christine Wolff-Eisenberg at 2021 LYRASIS Member Summit
On May 17th, Christine Wolff-Eisenberg will present on recent survey findings from the Ithaka S+R US Library Survey 2020 and will discuss the launch of an anti-racism audit focused on personnel outcomes, perspectives, practices, and policies with University of Delaware and Binghamton University. For more information, please visit this site. Abstract: Racial Justice and Academic Libraries: Leadership for a Way Forward with Christine Wolff-Eisenberg, Manager, Surveys and Research, ITHAKA; Trevor A. Dawes, Vice Provost for the Libraries and Museums…
Past Event
May 10, 2021
Oya Y. Rieger at 2021 Medical Library Association Conference
Oya Y. Rieger will present on “Structural Models and Emerging Priorities in Academic Health Sciences Libraries” at the Medical Library Association Conference. For additional information, please review abstract below. For more information on the session, please visit this website. Abstract Objectives: 1) Understanding the potential impact of mergers and other organizational changes on the academic health sciences library services, staff, and user communities. 2) Discussing the priority service areas of academic health science libraries, including research support,…