Academic Library Futures in a Diversified University System

Abstract

Universities (and Libraries) in transition Following World War II, the higher education sector grew rapidly. The increases in college attendance were dramatic. For example, in 1949, 2.4 million students attended US colleges and universities; by 1969, total enrollment had grown to 8 million students; and by 1994, enrollment had risen to 14.3 million students. And this growth continues. Between 2004 and 2014, enrollment increased 17%, from 17.3 million to 20.2 million. 1 As the higher education sector has grown, the number of US academic libraries has increased as well, growing by 6% from 2002 to 2012, and totaling more than 4000 in 2015. 2

Readiness of academic libraries in South Africa to research, teaching and learning support in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

“…The transformed roles, innovative services and future of academic libraries have been the focus of attention by many researchers around the world (Catalano et al , 2018; Cox et al , 2019; Dempsey and Malpas, 2018; Feret, 2018; Schulte et al , 2018; Sewell and Kingsley, 2017) and in South Africa (Chiware and Becker, 2018b; Hodonu-Wusu and Lazarus, 2018; Kwanya and Stilwell, 2018; Moll and Moll-Willard, 2019; Ocholla et al , 2016; Ocholla and Ocholla, 2017; Onyancha, 2018; Raju et al , 2018; Wilson et al , 2019). The result has been the creation of new library spaces and services, which are suitable for the needs and orientation of individual institutions (Dempsey and Malpas, 2018); (Ocholla et al , 2016), in response to the rapidly changing landscape of higher education, influenced by a strong research, teaching and learning agenda; ICTs; university ranking; community engagement (for contextualizing research and teaching) and the 4IR, all of which demand that library services be accessible anytime, and anywhere.…”

“…According to Dempsey and Malpas (2018), “libraries are transitioning from a collection-based model to a more broadly services-based model”. They further note that the library's role “is to support their users' creative activity in more diffuse ways – as a partner and an advocate”.…”

Library Leadership Lessons Gleaned from WWII Submariners

“…Other academic libraries have branched out into institutional repositories, maker spaces, student success librarians, and expanded special collections. 21 Another area for big thoughts and leadership is the physical space inside the library. While research libraries may not have reduced their physical collections significantly, many universities and colleges which rely on electronic resources could reduce the footprint of their physical collections.…”

Engaging Researchers in Data Dialogues: Designing Collaborative Programming to Promote Research Data Sharing

“…Having long served as a "crossroads for intellectual activity" on campus, recent decades have seen academic libraries expand their focus beyond acquiring and providing access to research materials-namely books and print-based journals-to serving as a site of support for activities spanning the research lifecycle (Council on Library & Information Resources 2008). Libraries have endeavored to reshape their campus image into that of an active partner in research and to restructure their prevailing service models to accommodate the full scope of research activity (Dempsey and Malpas 2018;Vaughan et al 2013;Wynne et al 2016). Some have even reconfigured physical spaces to better reflect this shift, opening up areas traditionally reserved for print collections to better collocate research services (Latimer 2011).…”