Overview of findings from a report (by Carole Palmer and colleagues, commissioned by OCLC Research) on scholarly information practices with some reflections on the implications of this work for library collections and services. From a presentation to the UC Berkeley Libraries' Roundtable Meeting, 12 March 2009.
Scholarly Information Practices: Implications for Library Collections and Services
1. Scholarly Information Practices in the Online Environment Implications for Academic Library Collections and Services Constance Malpas Program Officer UC Berkeley Library Roundtable Meeting 12 March 2009
8. Patterns of Convergence in Scholarly Practice accessing assessing chaining disseminating networking Interdisciplinary probing translating Humanities Sciences direct searching scanning co-authoring coordinating monitoring data-sharing browsing collecting re-reading assembling consulting note-taking Adapted from C. Palmer, L. Teffau, C. Pirmann (2009)
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11. Support for core scholarly activities Accessing OpenURL Assessing tags Chaining search history Disseminating forums Networking groups, calendar . . . plus browsing, collecting, consulting etc
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13. A shared knowledge base and access to disciplinary peers ‘ probing’ and ‘consulting’
14. Social scientific behaviors . . . Direct searching known-item access Scanning abstracts, evaluative metadata Monitoring sort by currency Data sharing self-archived content Accessing OpenURL Networking contact details
15. A model of the research life-cycle Context-specific Support Services Support for scientific information practices co-authoring wiki coordinating grant/project mgt monitoring current awareness . . . in addition to core activities
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17. the function and value of print collections is changing. half-life of scholarly literature economic imperatives How will the university library adapt? mass digitization Copyright regimes academic mission As scholarly information practices move online disciplinary disparities
18. Then . . . “ The Library is a common interest of all the departments. In its prosperity is bound up the scholarly fate of the University . Until we have a great library, properly housed and administered, we cannot have a great university. The promise … that a suitable library building will be provided during the next three years constitutes the strongest encouragement for the future of the institution which any single occurrence of the biennium, if not our entire history, has warranted.” Benjamin I. Wheeler, President of the University of California (1904) “… all of our major competitors had spent or planned to spend literally tens of millions on new buildings or extensions – indeed the sector as a whole in Scotland appeared to have committed some quarter of a billion pounds to library buildings, apparently as an act of faith, rather than with any obvious rationale. It became very quickly clear that, were Strathclyde to spend say fifty million pounds on refurbishing its library, it would be no better off relatively in any league table . Derek Law, Professor Emeritus and former University Librarian, Strathclyde (2009) now . . .
19. And shortly thereafter (by 2014) ... collection development as we now know it will cease to exist as selection of library materials will be entirely patron-initiated. Ownership of materials will be limited to what is actively used. The only collection development activities involving librarians will be competition over special collections and archives. ... libraries will have abandoned the hybrid model to focus exclusively on electronic collections, with limited investments in managing shared print archives . Local unique collections will be funded only by donor contributions. ... library buildings will no longer house collections and will become campus community centers that function as part of the student services sector. Campus business offices will manage license and acquisition of digital content. These changes will lead campus administrators to align libraries with the administrative rather than the academic side of the organization . ... libraries will have abandoned the hybrid model to focus exclusively on electronic collections, with limited investments in managing shared print archives . Local unique collections will be funded only by donor contributions. ... library buildings will no longer house collections and will become campus community centers that function as part of the student services sector. Campus business offices will manage license and acquisition of digital content. These changes will lead campus administrators to align libraries with the administrative rather than the academic side of the organization . TAIGA Forum - Provocative Statements - February 2009 ... collection development as we now know it will cease to exist as selection of library materials will be entirely patron-initiated. Ownership of materials will be limited to what is actively used. The only collection development activities involving librarians will be competition over special collections and archives.
24. Questions, Comments? Constance Malpas [email_address] OCLC Research White Papers www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports.htm Research Information Management Program www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/researchinfo Shared Print Collections Program www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/collectivecoll