1.
ACRL President’s Program | 27 June 2015
The Power of Mindset: Fostering Grit on the Way to New Roles
Redefining Academic Library Roles:
How Trends in Higher Education are Driving Change
Constance Malpas
OCLC Research

2.
Source: https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-Slow-tuition-growth-supports-continued-negative-outlook-for-US--
PR_314106?WT.mc_id
US Higher Education: Continued Drought
Mixed & negative
forecasts since
2009…
Success in the
future won’t look
like the past.

3.
• Increasing fragmentation, stratification of HE sector
elite, middle, convenience on different paths
• Fiscal constraints: limited public funding, growing
reliance on tuition for operating costs
renewed emphasis on student success
• Learning, research workflows transformed by
technology
flipped classroom, online learning, open science
• More attention to managing performance, reputation
learning analytics, research management
Key Trends in Higher Education

4.
• 26,606 academic librarians in US (NCES, 2012)
Represents 16% of all US librarians
• Represent <1% of total college, university and
professional school employment in US (BLS, 2014)
Very small part of very large industry
• Majority of US academic libraries (66%) support
‘4 years +’ institutions (NCES, 2012)
Market segment most influenced by expectations from
‘Golden Age’ of US higher education (1945-1970)
Libraries and US Higher Education
Change will be hard. And necessary.

5.
M. Van der Werf and G. Sabatier. The College of 2020: Students. Chronicle Research Services, 2009.
1. Elite – brand-name private colleges/universities, public flagships
global reputation, ‘student experience’, social/business elites,
large endowments
1. Middle – regional public and private universities, small liberal arts
emulate experience, amenities of elite with fewer resources
2. Convenience – community colleges, for-profit private providers
emphasis on career-ready credentials, online education

6.
www.shirky.com/weblog/2014/01/there-isnt-enough-money-to-keep-educating-adults-the-way-were-doing-it
Chart derived from NCES Digest of Educational Statistics, 2012, Table 255.
‘Convenience’ models
driving change in HE
system as a whole

7.
Doctoral/Research Master’s
Baccalaureate
Baccalaureate/
Associate’s
Associate’s
Specialized
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Distribution of US Academic Librarians
by Carnegie Classification
N = 26,606 (NCES 2012)
Source: NCES Academic Libraries Survey, 2012. Derived from Table 6.
75% of academic library community has
aspired to look more and more alike
Normative Isomorphism

8.
American Sociological Review Vol. 48, No. 2 (Apr., 1983), pp. 147-160
Organizations adopt similar practices to gain legitimacy
(without necessarily improving efficiency)
Cf. Matthew S. Kraatz “Learning by Association? Interorganizational Networks
and Adaptation to Environmental Change” The Academy of Management Journal
Vol. 41, No. 6 (Dec., 1998), pp. 621-643

9.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/opinion/joe-nocera-college-for-a-new-age.html
“You don’t need
libraries and research
infrastructure and
football teams and this
insane race for status,”
[Carey] says. “If you only
have to pay for the things
that you actually need,
education doesn’t cost
$60,000 a year.”
J. Nocera, New York Times, 3 March 2015

10.
My research was
accomplished with card
catalogues stored in the
university’s biggest building,
the library, along with
copies of the Readers Guide
to periodical Literature,
bound in green hardcover
on shelves near the
reference desk. When the
library closed, I had to find
something else to do.
K. Carey (2015), p. 87
Johnwilliamsphd “Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower” CC-by-nc-sa

11.
"Gelman GWU Air" by Pjn1990 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Organizational similarities…more than skin deep
"WidenerLibrary HarvardUniversity Springtime" by Unknown. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
http://www.thehoya.com/campus-buildings-impart-character/

12.
No...
a disruption of the institutional isomorphism
that makes colleges/universities and their
libraries look alike
The ‘End of Academic Libraries’?
http://www.collegerank.net/amazing-college-libraries
The ‘50 Most Amazing College Libraries’ built on the same model
Org. charts, too.

13.
Education & Related Expenses per
FTE Student, 1990-2010
W.G. Bowen and E.M. Tobin Locus of Authority: The Evolution of
Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education Princeton
University Press, 2014. Figures 3 & 4.
A widening gap between elite
and general educational offer at
private 4-year institutions
…and at public 4-year institutions
Remember: this is where
most academic librarians are

14.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Doctoral/Research
Master’s I and II
Baccalaureate
Baccalaureate/Associate’s
Associate’s
Allocation of Library Expenditures
by Carnegie Classification
Salaries and Wages Information Resources Operating Expenses
Source: NCES Academic Libraries Survey, 2012. Derived from Table 8.
Library staff will need to
support different
institutional priorities
>70% of expenditures
for staff
>40%

15.
Operational goals will evolve
cataloging metadata management
curation creation, publishing
customer relationship management
community engagement
reference
bibliographic
instruction
data literacy, visualization
integrating library, student support svcs
assessment custom analytics
acquisitions discovery, facilitated access
Old roles Emerging needs

16.
New roles in a reconfigured library organization
Elite, research:
Brand management - personal and institutional
Digital scholarship, creation and curation
Coordinated stewardship
*Outreach/Community Engagement Specialist
Middle
Convenience
Pre-packaged content for competency-based learning
Library integration with student/learning support
*Adaptive Learning Specialist
Facilitated collections – cooperative management
Visible library contribution to student success
*Preemptive Support & Response Specialist
*UX Design Librarian
*Creative Learning Specialist
*Neighborhood Liaison & Public Education Specialist
*”New roles” from S.Bell, L, Dempsey, B. Fister (ACRL, 2015)

17.
Locus of operations will shift
Shared
• Elite will selectively affiliate around cooperative solutions, retaining
‘distinctive’ local services that contribute to brand, prestige
• Middle will rely on blend of cooperative and commercial sourcing
• Convenience will increasingly rely on commercial
NB! reliance on commercial doesn’t mean ‘no librarians’
think of travel nursing, on-demand staffing in a variety of sectors
infrastructure
services
staffing Specialist cataloging
Preservation
…
DDA profiling
Shared print
…
Shared storage
Shared ILS
…

18.
https://www.orbiscascade.org/collaborative-workforce/

19.
Affects library
credentialing
models too?
http://static.fusion.net/lifetime_earnings/
*19 years to catch up with
high school grad…

20.
+ alternative credentialing . . .

21.
http://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-end-of-college-by-kevin-carey.html
Academic librarianship will change
and so will you.

22.
Greg Woodhouse “El Camino Real Bell (165/366)” CC-BY-NC
Old roads,
new ways . . .

23.
SM
Together we make breakthroughs possible.
Thanks for your attention.
Constance Malpas
OCLC Research
malpasc@oclc.org
ACRL President’s Program | 27 June 2015