How and why libraries are changing: What we know and what we need to know

Portal

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 99-123

  Troll, Denise A ^a,b  

^a Digital Library Federation   (United States)

^b CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33845290729     PISSN: 15312542     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/pla.2002.0023     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. J.C. Bertot, C.R. McClure, and J. Ryan, Statistics and Performance Measures for Public Library Network Services (Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2000), 66.
2. "The quantitative rank-ordered tables presented in this publication are not indicative of performance and outcomes and should not be used as measures of library quality. In comparing any individual library to ARL medians or to other ARL members, one must be careful to make such comparisons within the context of differing institutional and local goals and characteristics." M. Kyrillidou, "Trends in ARL Libraries," (April 10, 2000). Available: 〈http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/99intro.html [October 2, 2001].
3. ARL efforts are documented at 〈http://www.arl.org/newsltr/207/newmeas.html [July 31, 2001], 〈http://www.arl.org/stats/newmeas/e-metrics.html [July 31, 2001], and 〈http://www.arl.org/libqual [July 31, 2001]. IMLS sponsored research on network performance measures is available at 〈http://www.ii.fsu.edu/Projects/IMLS/ index.html [July 31, 2001]. Details about the 2001 NISO forum on library statistics and the resulting report are available at 〈http://www.niso.org/stats.html [July 31, 2001], and 〈http://www.niso.org/stats-rpt.html [July 31, 2001]. NCLIS work is described at 〈http:// www.nclis.gov/libraries/lsp/statist.html [July 31, 2001]. The EQUINOX project is described at 〈http://equinox.dcu.ie/index.html [July 31, 2001].
4. The CLIR report on electronic journal usage statistics is available at 〈http://www.clir.org/ pubs/abstract/pub94abst.html [July 31, 2001]. The ICOLC guidelines for usage statistics of Web-based indexed, abstracted, and full-text resources are available at 〈http:// www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html [July 31, 2001].
5. Conversations at conferences with vendors of digital rights management software indicate that vendors do not perceive libraries as publishers and consequently are not developing affordable software to meet library needs. Similarly, some vendors of e-book devices seem to be unaware or naïve about how universities operate, believing that the campus bookstore or library is organized and prepared to load each student's device with the textbooks and other materials needed for their courses when these become available. Other vendors are licensing materials to specific hardware devices, which complicates if not eliminates library acquisition of these materials.
6. B. Quinn, "The McDonaldization of Academic Libraries," College Research Libraries 61 (3): 248-261 (May 2000).
7. Denise A. Troll conducted a telephone survey of how DLF institutions gather and apply usage and usability data. An analysis and synthesis of significant results from the study will be available on the DLF web site in September 2001.
8. S. Singleton and L. Mast, "How Does the Empty Glass Fill? A Modern Philosophy of the Digital Divide," EDUCAUSE Review (November-December 2000): 30-34, 36. Available:〈http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/ermOO/articles006/erm0062.pdf [July 31, 2001].
9. M. Kyrillidou, Trends in ARL Libraries (April 10, 2000). 〈http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/ 99intro.html [October 2, 2001].
10. Though "born digital" publications may be a viable solution to the economic crisis in scholarly publications once the infrastructure for producing them is in place, lack of established prestige and concerns about the longevity of digital publications-which may go hand in hand-discourage many institutions from valuing such publications in promotion and tenure considerations, which is a strong deterrent for faculty to publish in these venues.
11. Kurzweil, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kurzweil Educational Systems, made this projection at the Earthware Symposium at Carnegie Mellon in October 2000.
12. For example, years ago Carnegie Mellon consulted with experts in the field and began to design a queuing study to determine whether we had enough public workstations for our users. Before the study design was even completed, we abandoned the project because more and more incoming freshmen arrived on campus with their own computers. Similarly, we considered how to stretch our already strained budget to accommodate adding network ports (a "Netbar") for the conspicuously growing number of laptop computers that students were bringing into the library. This project too was abandoned when wireless computing and affordable wireless cards rendered "Netbar" unnecessary.
13. Aggregate Oberlin Group and DLF data are not publicly available. ARL data are available at 〈http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/ [August 1, 2001]; Oberlin Group library reports reviewed include: • Hope College- 〈http://www.hope.edu/lib/job/annual_report.html [August 1, 2001]. • Randolph-Macon College- 〈http://www.rmc.edu/academic/library/annualrpt.htm [August 1,2001]. • Wellesley College- 〈http://www.wellesley.edu/Reaccreditation/seven.html [August 1,2001]. • Drew University- 〈http://www.depts.drew.edu/lib/visions6.html [August 1, 2001]. • Gustavus Adolphus College- 〈http://www.gac.edu/oncampus/academics/ Resources/Library/Pubs/AnnualReport97-98.htm〉 [August 1, 2001]. Significant results from the DLF survey will be available on the DLF web site in February 2002.
14. ALA/ACRL, "Standards for College Libraries," College and Research Libraries News 47, no. 3 (March 1986): 199.
15. Randolph-Macon College, 3 998-99 Annual Report for McGraw-Page Library. Available:〈http://www.rmc.edu/academic/library/annualrpt.htm [October 2, 2001].
16. ALA/ACRL, "Standards for College Libraries," (January 2000) is available at 〈http:// www.ala.org/acrl/guides/college.html [August 1, 2001].
17. Email to the author, February 24, 2001.
18. EDUCAUSE recently released a report stating that insufficient funds to recruit or retain qualified information technology staff has reached crisis proportions in higher education, a crisis that requires the attention and support of university presidents and provosts to solve. See EDUCAUSE Executive Briefing , "Recruiting and Retaining Information Technology Staff in Higher Education," LDUCAUSL Quarterly 23 (3): 4-7 (2000).
19. P.D. Leighton and D.C. Weber, Planning Academic Library Buildings, 3d ed. (Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1999).
20. The $2500 cost assumes that the books can be dis-bound and digitized using a duplex, flatbed scanner. (Digitizing books that cannot be dis-bound costs significantly more.) The cost projection includes scanning, capturing the metadata, and storing and verifying the quality of the images. It does not include the cost of equipment, staff training, or getting copyright permission to digitize the books. The calculation of ten square feet of floor space assumes a standard, single-faced shelving unit in open stacks with books shelved by size and sufficient aisle space for handicapped access.
21. A study conducted at Yale indicated that printed course packs are more popular with students than electronic reserves. (Comment to the author by a Yale librarian in response to reading the white paper on which this article is based.)
22. A presentation at the annual American Library Association Conference in 1998 reported on a comparative study of print and electronic reserves use. The results revealed that some students do reserve readings and some do not. The delivery media was irrelevant. A study conducted years ago indicated that reading reserve materials had a miniscule positive effect on student course grades (+0.01 per reserves item checked out). See J.R. Self, "Reserve Readings and Student Grades: Analysis of a Case Study," Library and Information Science Research 9 (10): 29-40 (1987).
23. See, for example, the ARL study by M.E. Jackson and G.J. Barrett on interlibrary loan and document delivery performance measures at 〈http://www.arl.org/access/illdd/ illdd.shtml [August 1, 2001].
24. Study conducted at Yale. (Comment by a Yale librarian to the author in response to reading the white paper on which this article is based.)
25. K.M. Guthrie, "Revitalizing Older Published Literature: Preliminary Lessons from the Use of JSTOR" (March 23, 2000). Available:http://www.si.umich.edu/PEAK-2000/ guthrie.pdf [August 1, 2001]. Cornell University and the University of Michigan have seen similar results with the Making of America collections.
26. Example reported to the author by a librarian at the University of Chicago during the DLF usage and usability telephone survey.
27. ALA/ACRL, Association of College and Research Libraries, Task Force on American Library Outcomes Assessment Available-.Report (June 27,1998): 3. 〈http://www.ala.org/acrl/ outcome.html [August 1, 2001].
28. S.S. Andaleeb and PL. Simmonds, "Explaining User Satisfaction with Academic Libraries: Strategic Implications," College Research Libraries 59 (March 1998): 156-167.
29. D.A. Nitecki, "Assessment of Service Quality in Academic Libraries: Focus on the Applicability of SERVQUAL," Proceedings of the 2nd Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services (Newcastle on Tyne, England: Department of Information and Library Management, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, 1998): 181-196. One of the primary thrusts of ARL's New Measures Initiative is converting the service-specific SERVQUAL instrument into a library-wide LIBQUAL+ instrument, which is being pilot tested at this time. See 〈http://www.arl.org/libqual/ [August 1,2001].
30. Referenced in C.H. Montgomery and J. Sparks, "Framework for Assessing the Impact of an Electronic Journal Collection on Library Costs and Staffing Patterns," (March 2000). Available:http://www.si.umich.edu/PEAK-2000/montgomery.pdf [August 1, 2001].
31. A survey of ARL and non-ARL libraries in 1997-1998 indicated that 29% of the ARL libraries and 34% of the non-ARL libraries had canceled print journals for electronic access in the previous year, but 51% of the ARL libraries and 40% of the non-ARL libraries said that they did not and will not cancel print for electronic subscriptions because the academy is not ready to relinquish print. Referenced in Montgomery and Sparks, "Framework for Assessing the Impact of an Electronic Journal Collection on Library Costs and Staffing Patterns," (March 2000). Available: 〈http://www.si.umich.edu/PEAK-2000/ montgomery.pdf [August 1, 2001]; the 1999 survey of 214 JSTOR subscribers revealed that 64% of the institutions had no plans to discard bound volumes of JSTOR titles, 39% had moved or planned to move physical copies of JSTOR titles to offsite storage, and only 24% had stopped binding or planned to stop binding recent issues. See 〈http://www.jstor.org/ about/bvs.html [August 1, 2001].
32. Montgomery and Sparks.
33. Referenced in 〈http://www.wellesley.edu/Reaccreditation/seven.html [August 1, 2001].
34. S. Lawrence and L. Giles, "Accessibility and Distribution of Information on the Web," (1999). Available: 〈http://www.wwwmetrics.com [Not Working August 1, 2001];
35. See also, Nature 400 (1999): 107-109.
36. M.K. Bergman, "White Paper-The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value," (July 2000). Available: 〈http://128.121.227.57/download/deepwebwhitepaper.pdf [August 1,2001].
37. This observation is based on the author's experience of being interrupted in her office to help students use the online catalog or find books in Hunt Library.
38. Yankelovich, "netLibrary Study Looks at Online Habits of American College Students," (January 2000). Available:http://www.netlibrary.com/Press_Releases/January 132000l.asp [August 1,2001].
39. Though one reader of an early draft of this paper objected to this question, the author knows at least one professor who provides all of the necessary reading material for students even to write their papers so that their ability or inability to use the library does not affect their academic performance in his courses.
40. For example, vendors neglect to distinguish logouts from time-outs, which significantly skews usage reports of average session length.
41. See, for example, M. Kyrillidou, "Overview of Performance Measures in Higher Education and Libraries." Available: 〈http://www.arl.org/newsltr/197/overview.html [August 1, 2001].
42. J.P. Kotter (March-April 1995), "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail," Harvard Business Review 73 (2): 59-67 (March-April 1995).
43. S.R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990): 18.
44. S.R. Covey, First Things First (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1994).
45. D.R. Conner, Managing at the Speed of Change (NY: Random House, Inc. 1992): 136.