The document discusses the evolution of research libraries, highlighting the transition from traditional physical collections to digital content and the importance of adapting to new scholarly access methods. It emphasizes the necessity for libraries to provide resources that support current students and faculty while preserving the cultural record. The document also contains speculative views on the future of libraries, incorporating elements of technology and changing user experiences.

1. From Archive to Gateway: The
Evolution of the Research Library
University of Utah
Friends of the Marriott Library Banquet
April 9, 2013
Michael Levine-Clark
University of Denver Libraries

2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/1199582640/

5. OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries 2010.
http://www.oclc.org/reports/2010perceptions.en.html.

7. How Important is the Library to Faculty?
• Ithaka S+R US Faculty
Survey 2012.
http://lists.jstor.org/t/433194/11798
962/417/5/

9. “Academic libraries can no longer assume that
their importance and value to a university is
universally understood.”
Susan Gibbons, University Librarian
Yale University Library Annual Report, 2011-12

10. Penrose Library Anderson Academic Commons
1972 2013

12. This is NOT a Library!!!

13. definitions
li·brar·y
1. A building or room containing collections
of books…
2. A collection of books…
3. The organization that manages that
building and collection…

14. What Do The Experts Say?
• "The future library will be located in a spaceship. The
spaceship will have blue tables and purple chairs. The walls of
the future library will be green and magenta. Also, the future
library will have many skylights."
• "Libraries will have flying desks and iPads for each person.”
• "The future library will be open twenty four hours.”
• "The library will have ninety thousand computers. The library
will also have a café."
• "Libraries will be floating in the sky. People will have their own
planes to get there.”
• "As much as I love the library, I’m 100% sure future libraries
would be even more awesome. Just think how amazing the
library will be in the future, with robots and electronics."

15. • "I also believe that there will be robot librarians. But then
again a lot of people know that someday robots will take over
the world. Also people think that there will be a war of good
robots vs bad robots but here is the good part about all this is
that the good robots will be teamed up with all of humanity.
But earth is a very strong place and can fight with or without
human help.”
• "They [robots] will be very cost effective because we will not
have to pay them."
• The librarians are so friendly, even the shyest person in the
world won't be shy anymore.”
• "If you have a book that is out of date, it will warp back to the
library. It also allows you to warp to other libraries."
Essays from children on the future of libraries. April 2011.
http://www.screwydecimal.com/2011/04/library-of-future.html

16. The Past

17. Collections
• Library = Collection
• Physical collections
– Books
– Journals
– Microforms
– Archives/Special
Collections
• The collection is local
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boltron/3212284622/

18. Mission
• Preserve the cultural
record
– Including replication
of common stuff
• Provide resources for
current students and
faculty
• Organize and
describe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sifter/370775225/

19. Collection Use
Circulation, Books Cataloged • We buy books that sit
2000-2004 (n=126,953)
on the shelf
4+ • Students request
Circ, 19
% 0
books we don’t own
3 Circ, 40 – Interlibrary loan
Circ, 8 %
% – Purchase
2
Circ, 13
1
• Some material
%
Circ, 21 requires a research
%
trip

20. The Difficulties of Discovery
• Specialized tools
– Library catalog
– Indexes
• Specialized vocabulary
– Subject headings
– Call numbers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/reedinglessons/2239767394/

21. As Physical Collections Expanded…
• Quantity came to equal quality
• There was less room for students
• There was little ability to integrate technology
into the building
• There was less money for special collections

22. The Present

23. Collections = Content
• Majority of non-book purchases are electronic
– Journals almost entirely so
• We are beginning to develop better discovery tools
– Access beyond “the collection”
– Still not as intuitive as Google
• BUT, the evolution to e-books is just beginning

24. “The Harvard of the West!”
Digital primary source
collections
The great equalizer

25. The Library as Place (for People)

26. Evolving Mission
• Provide access to content for current students
and faculty
– Service orientation
– Discovery tools
• Owned and unowned content
• Preserve the cultural record
– Institutional Repositories
– Redundant print
– Portico

27. The Future

28. Spending Patterns Must Change
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0% Subscriptions
20.0%
One-time
10.0%
Services
0.0%

29. Digital Content
• Almost all current
scholarship will be
accessed electronically
• Paper will be for
specialized uses
• We won’t care about
ownership (except
when we should)

30. Rethinking the Collection
• Access on demand
– Pay only for use
– Pay only for level of use
– E-books
– Articles (not journals)
– Print on Demand
• Espresso Book Machine
• Access instead of assets
• A broader, richer content pool

31. Reemphasizing Special Collections
http://www.flickr.com/photos/celesterc/403508538/

32. The Evolution to Digital Content Makes
Possible
• An evolution in how
we use library space
– Flexible
– Comfortable
• A much richer
research
environment

33. Our Mission Should Be…
• Locally, to provide our users with the widest range of
quality resources possible (and to make these things
easier to find)
– Digital content, owned and unowned
– Primary source collections, digital and physical
• Collectively, to serve as stewards of the cultural
record
– Maintain the physical collections that matter locally
• Collaborate on the rest
– Pay third-party specialists to preserve licensed digital
content

34. Research libraries are both the same as
they’ve always been, and very different
• Same mission
– Providing information resources and services to
support the curriculum
– Stewardship
• Very different emphases
– Access vs. assets
– Locally unique materials
– Service / ease of use
– Space
– Comfort

35. Thank You