This presentation will use the well-established SWOT analysis technique to examine a selection of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats impacting academic libraries collectively and influencing their status and positioning. These shape the academic library in terms of what it is and does, how it is seen, where it excels and struggles, and its potential for advancement and decline. An understanding of them, and how they interact to generate sometimes unexpected effects and outcomes, is essential to sustainable strategic advancement. In terms of sustainability, strengths include the predisposition of academic libraries towards collaboration and partnership with other parties and with each other to positive effect. Among the weaknesses are an economic situation in which often static budgets chase sustained rises in expectations and costs. A key opportunity is the disruption to existing paradigms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, opening the way to take new directions or accelerate ongoing changes. Global uncertainty and political, economic, social and technological disruption represent a real threat, creating a very challenging operating environment. This analysis is focused on helping academic libraries to maximise the sustainability of their positioning by leveraging their strengths, addressing particular weaknesses, taking the major opportunities presented to them and mitigating significant threats they confront. It acknowledges context as vital and variable for different libraries and takes full account of the wider higher education environment. The presentation will propose strategies from which academic libraries may wish to select and pursue where relevant, with the aim of advancing their situation sustainably. These include active positioning, being political, maximising social capital and maintaining long-term perspective. The environment on and beyond the campus is challenging, uncertain and fast-changing, but academic libraries, if they can mitigate the weaknesses and threats they confront, have much to build on through their established strengths and the opportunities available to them.

1. University
ofGalway.ie University
ofGalway.ie
The Sustainable
Strategic Advancement
of Academic Libraries: a
SWOT analysis
John Cox, University Librarian,
University of Galway
@johncoxnuig

2. University
ofGalway.ie
• The influence of library strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)
• The operating context
• Selection of academic library SWOT
• Implications of chosen SWOT
• A complex cocktail: some contradictions
• 10 possible strategic directions from which to choose
Outline

3. University
ofGalway.ie
The Influence of Academic Library SWOT
• Identity
• What an academic library is
• What we do
• How others see us
• Prospects
• Where we excel and struggle
• Our potential for advancement or decline
• Situation
• Our sustainability
• Our strategy
• Our position and positioning

4. University
ofGalway.ie
SWOT Interaction with Unstable Environment
Global Higher Education
• Funding
• Student recruitment
• Accountability
• Competition
• Hybrid learning
• Student mental health
• Covid/Future Pandemics
• Climate Change
• War
• Cost of Living
• Energy Shortages
• Artificial Intelligence

5. University
ofGalway.ie
• Long-term significance
• Macro scale
• External context
• Prominence in literature
• 4 per SWOT dimension, 16 total
• Overlaps and contradictions recognised, also local circumstances
Academic Library SWOT: selection criteria

6. University
ofGalway.ie
Strengths and their Influence
Strength Positives Counterweights Strategy Implications
Centrality Established proximity to scholarship and
institutional mission
Mid-campus location
Vital connector role
Risk of complacency and assumption of
support
Emphasise impact on academic success
Maximise social capital
Values Engendering of trust
Strongly aligned with public good agenda
Compatibility with campus community
Demanding standards to meet
May generate conflicts occasionally
Promote values
Link values-based actions to institutional
strategy
Collaboration Strong institutional citizenship, alignment
Productive, resource-effective partnerships
Significant investment needed
Less direct recognition
Communicate benefits
Assert library identity and credit
Reinvention Evolving value proposition
Versatile range of contributions and
connections
Value less solid and unique to library
Ongoing investment in legacy
commitments
Sell the change in role and contribution
Keep legacy functions under review

7. University
ofGalway.ie
Opportunities and their Influence
Opportunity Positives Counterweights Strategy Implications
Post-COVID New directions, faster changes, greater
flexibility
Higher status and value in the institution
Budget uncertainty
Digital-first costs and licencing issues
Seize moment for new recognition, flexibility
and agility
Digital
Scholarship
Deeper embedding in the research cycle
New roles as partners
Funding potential
Specialist skillsets harder to find, retain
Infrastructure costs
Advertise contribution clearly, using
language of partnership
Open
Scholarship
Momentum for systemic change
Libraries at centre
Open access impetus
Academic and publisher resistance Prioritise participation in push for change
locally and globally
Learning Space Transformed libraries central to learning
Supportive partnerships
Community, well-being roles
Level of capital investment needed Frame argument for library as prime
learning space in institutional and wider HE
contexts

8. University
ofGalway.ie
Weaknesses and their Influence
Weakness Negatives Counterweights Strategy Implications
Conservatism Delayed response to change, opportunity
Slow discontinuation of legacy activities
Inward focus
Similar mindset common on campus Encourage and embed experimental
mentality
Strengthen external engagement
Stakeholder
Misperceptions
Dated, narrow perceptions
Underestimation
Positive sentiment towards library still a
common default
Communicate impact on priorities of
institution effectively
Economics Decline in share of institutional budget
Dysfunctional journals market
Value harder to prove
Consortium purchasing
Journal costs in spotlight via open
scholarship
Cultivate deeper understanding by
stakeholders of costs, choices, value
Diversity Staffing profile unrepresentative of user
population
Collections bias
Very slow progress
Pressure applied by institutional and
societal focus on EDI
Commit resources to intentional diversity
plans as a priority

9. University
ofGalway.ie
Threats and their Influence
Threat Negatives Counterweights Strategy Implications
Declining
Position
Lower place and visibility in institutional
hierarchy and structures
Less influence, budget
Structural alignment with academic units
remains more common
Focus on priorities of the institution
Capitalise on status gains during COVID
Identity
Blurring
Unclear professional identity projected
Less distinctive brand
Dilution of credit
Longevity of library as an established
campus presence
Promote distinctive role, achievements, and
value proposition
Competition Harder to advance position, influence
and resourcing
Disintermediation
Enduring high levels of trust in library Balance collegiality with competition
focused on key areas
Assert uniqueness
Uncertainty Unstable backdrop for operations and
strategy
Changes in roles, jobs, control, user
behaviour
Previous track record of resilience and
adaptability
Embrace uncertainty and shape change
Use values as anchor

10. University
ofGalway.ie
• Centrality v Attention
• Goodwill v Resourcing
• Collaboration v Competition
• Service v Partnership
• Diversity v Homogeneity
A Complex Cocktail: some contradictions

11. University
ofGalway.ie
• Active positioning
• Understanding the operating environment deeply
• Being political
• Prioritising outward engagement
• Maximising social capital
• Communicating value and identity
• Addressing diversity deficits
• Leveraging change in scholarly communications
• Embracing uncertainty
• Maintaining long-term perspective
10 Possible Strategic Directions

12. University
ofGalway.ie
• Leverage strengths
• Address weaknesses
• Take opportunities
• Mitigate threats
The Ultimate Strategic Objective…

13. University
ofGalway.ie
Schlak, T., Corrall, S., & Bracke, P. (Eds.). (2022). The social future of academic
libraries: new perspectives on communities, networks, and engagement. London:
Facet.
Budd, J. M. (2018). The changing academic library: operations, culture, environments
(3rd ed.). Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.
Cox, J. (2018). Positioning the academic library within the institution: a literature
review. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 24 (3-4), pp. 217-241.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2018.1466342
References

14. University
ofGalway.ie
Thank you