This document summarizes a presentation given at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference on creating a vision for academic libraries. It discusses the challenges libraries currently face like shrinking budgets, changing user needs, and advancing technologies. The presentation covered the results of a survey of library leaders on important planning topics and challenges. Key areas identified were alignment with institutional mission, assessment, innovation, and responding to users' needs. Solutions discussed included new service models, collaboration, and demonstrating the library's value through assessment.

1. LLAMA
LOMS PELS
Future Quest:
Creating a Vision for
Academic Libraries
Presented at ALA
Annual Conference
Anaheim 2012

2. What is
PELS?
Library Leadership and Management
Association (LLAMA), Library Organization and
Management Section (LOMS), Planning and
Evaluating Library Services (PELS)
Join LLAMA, then get involved
Participate in free webinars and other great
programming
Take advantage of unique networking
opportunities
You don’t need to be a dean or director to join

3. Presenters
Cesar Caballero, University Librarian/Dean,
California State University, San Bernardino, CA
Dr. Richard Moniz, Director of Library Services,
Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, NC
Joe Eshleman, Instruction/Reference Librarian,
Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, NC
Janet Bishop, Coordinator, Archives and
Special Collections Associate Professor
Colorado State University Libraries Fort Collins,
CO
Kari Lucas, Head, Access Services, University
of California San Diego Libraries, San Diego, CA

4. About our
Survey
Committee Meetings
Exploration/Discussion of the Literature
Creating the Survey
“Next Step” Discussion Today with Library
Leaders (ALA)
Continuing the Discussion (ALA Connect)

5. Survey
Demographics
Sample of 49 respondents
75% with 11 years or more of
experience (42% with 20+ years)
46% from libraries with more than a
$5,000,000 budget
47% consider their library medium in
size
71% consider 50% or more of their job
administrative

6. Which of the following services are you currently
using in your library? You may choose more than
one.
Self-Service Checkout
Lending E-Readers
Outsourcing
Discovery Tools
Mobile Apps
Offering E-books
Social Media
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

7. e-books
Is your library providing enough e-
book content?
Is your e-book content accessible via
mobile devices?
Do you use a discovery tool that limits
for e-books?

8. Social Media
Librarians need to learn to use it
effectively in the marketing and
delivery of library content.
Social media communications should
be reviewed and edited just like print
media.

9. How would you rate the following planning elements
(or topics) for use in planning services in academic
libraries in the next 3-5 years?
Very
Important

10. Understanding
and
Responding to
2009 – UNCC hired an anthropologist User’s needs
to conduct ethnographic studies
Structured and open-ended interviews
Open forums
Usability testing of the web site
Print and virtual easels
Complete redesign of the library
and web site based on a wide
variety of data

11. Skills needed
Quick survey of University of North by future
Carolina at Greensboro MLIS librarians
faculty on top 4 skills
Interpersonal skills
Teaching skills
Entrepreneurial with new
technology
Problem solving abilities (especially
with regard to information)

12. What would you define as the single greatest
challenge to academic libraries (especially as it
relates to leadership and management)?
46 Responses – term frequency
need(s) 14 budget (s) 11 staff 5 changing 6
resources 10 economic 5 users 5 challenge 4
services 9 money 4 people 4
value 6 costs 4
shrinking 4
10
39 28 14

13. “I think the growing gap in age between middle and senior administrators
and newer or younger individuals to the profession is something to
consider… while we have also as a profession hosted various leadership
sessions, very few have the true skills needed to tackle our libraries of the
future”
“strategic “having an
planning/identifying organization that
emerging needs so aligns with the
that we can be university’s
proactive not mission and
reactive” assessment
data/information
that demonstrates
that connection”
“Being flexible and responsive enough to navigate a rapidly changing world. We
all need to get comfortable being uncomfortable as a colleague likes to say. It's
crucial not only that we meet user needs, but that we be perceived as doing so
in a way that is useful, current, and relevant to our users, as well as appreciated
by our funders. We have to be willing to let go of ALL of our assumptions and
investigate what is really happening and then respond to it in a timely fashion.”

14. Solutions
-budgets
Inventive solutions by libraries that
deal with budget crunches:
collaborative storage networks
open-access content
look for other sources of revenue such as
library grants
beef up longstanding partnerships with other
libraries
determine which scholarly journals and other
materials are truly “must-keep” items

15. Solutions
-leadership
7 Imperatives for Library
Leadership
1. Rethink the operating model
2. Understand and respond to user needs
3. Embrace the concept of continuous
innovation
4. Forge a digital identity
5. Connect with stakeholders in ways that
pure internet companies cannot
6. Expand the metrics
7. Be courageous

16. Which of these academic library service topics would
you say is the single most important moving
forward?
Alignment with institutional mission
Innovation and risk taking
Assessment
Library organization and culture
Current data (real time decision making) and
patron-driven acquisitions
Combined service points
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

17. Although “Alignment with Institutional Mission” was the top LITERATURE
ranked topic among respondents, a review of the current REVIEW:
literature revealed that “Assessment” was the most discussed The Importance of
of the top three topics: Assessment of
Library Services
and Activities
•“Institutional Mission” -1 hit
•“Strategic Planning” AND “Academic Libraries” -46 hits
•“Change Management” -7 hits
•“Innovation” AND “Academic Libraries” -20 hits
•“Risk-Taking AND Academic Libraries” -0 hits
•“Assessment” AND “Academic Libraries”- 322 hits
Why is
Assessment so
important?
Examples of how we assess services and activities:
Quantitative Assessment
LibQUAL
Qualitative Assessment
“Market Research”-Focus Groups
Advisory Boards
Anthropological Studies on Information-Seeking Behavior

18. ECONOMIC CLIMATE 2008-2012
ALIGNMENT WITH
INSTITUTIONAL MISSION
facilitates
necessitates
ASSESSMENT INNOVATION &
RISK TAKING

19. “[T]he current economic crisis is accelerating trends that would
have emerged more slowly. It is compelling a rapid rethinking of
how we do business in research libraries and, more
fundamentally, what a research library is going to be.”
Charles Lowry, “Year 2 of the ‘Great Recession’: Surviving the
Present by Building the Future”, 2011
Value that is not valued is not valuable. In the marketplace the value of a consumer good
(such as a car or a toaster) is determined entirely by the consumer…
As Librarians, we pride ourselves on operating outside of the commercial marketplace.
However, whether we like it or not, we are working in an information environment, the
dynamics of which are very much like those of a free market, except that the currency
spent by our “customers” is not money, but time and attention. We procure for our
patrons products (books, articles, etc.) and offer services (bibliographic instruction, one-
on-one research guidance, etc.) that we believe are valuable, and our patrons choose
whether or not to invest time in our offerings based on the value they expect to gain from
doing so.
Rick Anderson, “The Crisis in Research Librarianship”, 2011

20. The necessity of
SERVICES
• Patron-driven models (e.g. acquisitions) •INNOVATION
• Shared services (e.g. “strategic collaboration”) •RISK-TAKING
• Outsourcing •REFOCUSING
• Technology-based innovations •REINVENTION
• Game-Based Learning in Information Literacy
Instruction (e.g. examples used in Horizon Report)
• Web 2.0 Strategies
• Mobile Apps
• Added Services
• GIS initiatives Three major
• Computer/Tech Support areas
• Digitization/Audio/Large-Scale Printing
MARKETING/
FUNDING/FUNDRAISING
OUTREACH
(Revenue beyond legislative funding, tax-
• Branding supported base, and existing endowments)
• “Profile-raising” • Grants
• Donor Cultivation
• For-profit models

21. Table
Discussions
What top issue or issues need to be
addressed and where do we start?
Have we missed something else that could
override all these issues?
How do we prepare for the future?

22. Wrap-Up
Final thoughts
Join us through ALA Connect to continue
the discussion!

23. 2010 Top Ten Trends in Academic Libraries: ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. (June
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24. Johnson, L., Adams, S. & Cummins, M. (2012). The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition.
References
Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
(continued)
Lowry, C. B. (2011). Year 2 of the ‘Great Recession’: Surviving the present by building the future. Journal
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