Positioning the Academic Library within the Institution: A Literature Review

Abstract

A strong position in the institution is vital for any academic library and affects its recognition, resourcing and prospects. Higher education institutions are experiencing radical change, driven by greater accountability, stronger competition and increased internationalisation. They prioritise student success, competitive research and global reputation. This has significant implications for library strategy, space, structures, partnerships and identity. Strategic responses include refocusing from collections to users, reorganising teams and roles, developing partnerships, and demonstrating value. Emphasis on student success and researcher productivity has generated learning commons buildings, converged service models, research data management services, digital scholarship engagement, and rebranding as partners. Repositioning is challenging, with the library no longer perceived as the heart of the campus but institutional leadership often holding traditional perceptions of its role. This review discusses literature on how academic libraries have been adapting, or might adapt, functionally, physically, strategically and organisationally to position themselves effectively within the institution.

Libraries’ Contributions to the Quality of UK University Research Environments Were Not Acknowledged in REF 2014, but Could Be Made More Visible in REF 2021

“…About half of Walker's paper reports on the analysis of the research environment statements, and the other half focuses on ways that libraries and librarians can improve their visibility within their own institutions and in the REF 2021 process. These recommendations are consistent with, but provide more specificity than, previously published recommendations related to positioning academic libraries within their institutions (Boyce et al, 2019;Cox, 2018). In addition, the recommendations are useful because they are discussed at a level of detail that is directly applicable to individual institutions.…”

Library support for student mental health and well-being in the UK: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The resulting holistic model of library support to student mental health and well-being offers a new framework of how libraries conceptualize the issue, how they respond to it and how they evaluate the success of these activities. It also adds to our picture of the gradual evolution of the academic library away from a place purely to store books or even digital information, repositioned as a service organisation, aligned to institutional priorities and with a stress on excellent partnership working ( Cox, 2018 ). The framework could be useful for practitioners to reflect on the range of services they wish to develop and how these should be evaluated.…”

Unresolved Privacy and Ethics Issues Related to Learning Analytics in Higher Education and Academic Librarianship

“…Learning analytics is by no means out of place in the climate of accountability that permeates higher education and academic librarianship. Several authors (Cox, 2018;Dougherty, 2009;Jones, 2019;White & Blankenship, 2007) note that libraries must demonstrate their worth in order to justify the support that they receive. Lilburn (2017) writes that this need aligns with neoliberal agendas that not only seek to quantify outputs and improve efficiency, but that neoliberalism "influences and informs decisions concerning the criteria and methods used to describe and assess malleable concepts such as relevance, quality, and excellence" (p. 104).…”