This document discusses three main trends affecting academic libraries and research/instructional librarians: 1) increasing use of technology and digital resources, 2) need for localized, user-oriented services, and 3) tightening budgets. These trends will require librarians to engage in planning, needs assessment, collaboration, and quantitative assessment to adapt services and resources for users in a digital environment with constrained finances.

1. Technology, Users and Budgets: A Discussion of the
Challenges Faced by the 21st-Century Research and
Instructional Services Librarian
Claire Parker, BA, MA, MLIS
Tuesday March 26, 2013
The D.B. Weldon Library, Teaching Support Centre, Room 121

2. “ Identify up to three trends or issues
affecting academic libraries and give a
big-picture description of how they might
affect Research and Instructional Services
librarians.”

3. 1. Technology and the Digital Campus
• Information Literacy
• Pedagogical & Promotional Tools
• Reference Questions (Laguardia, 2011)
• Library Anxiety (Melon, 1986; Brown 2011)
Image courtesy of Tulane Publications via Flickr Creative Commons

4. 2. Need for Local, User-Oriented Services
“our students are not your students, and your students are not our students.”
-Cheryl Laguardia, Research Librarian, Harvard University (2011)
• Needs Assessment
• Course-specific Resources & Services
Image courtesy of Ryan Mahoney, via Flickr Creative Commons

5. 3. Budget Constraints
“finances are driving decision making”
-Granfield et. al. (2011)
• Quantitative Assessment
• Public Relations
Image courtesy of Robert Fairchild via Flickr Creative Commons.

6. What does this mean for
Research and Instructional Services
librarians?
• Planning
• Collaboration

7. References
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ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. and Its Development.” College & Research Libraries 47, 2
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the Current Literature. College & Research Libraries News
73, 6 (2012): 311-320. “NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition.”
2012. Retrieved from: http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2012-
ACRL Standards Committee. “Information Literacy horizon-report-HE.pdf
Competency Standards for Higher Education.” American
Library Association, 2000. Retrieved from Rowley, Jennifer. “Innovation for Survival: From Co-
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/sta operation to Collaboration.” In Librarianship in Times of
ndards/standards.pdf Crisis, edited by Anne Woodsworth, 207-225. Emerald
Publishing Group Limited, 2011.
Chan, Christopher. “Marketing the Academic Library with
Online Social Network Advertising.” Library Management Seal, Robert A. “Trends, Issues and Innovation in Academic
33, 8/9 (2012): 479-489. Library Services: Introduction.” Journal of Library
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Practices, edited by Colin Lankshear and Michele arnaz. “Comparison of Traditional and Digital Reference
Knobel, 17-32. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. Questions and Responses at the National Library and
Archives of I.R. of Iran (NLAI)” Reference & User Services
Brown, Lesley J. “Trending Now-Reference Librarians: How Quarterly 52, 2 (2012): 136-144.
Reference Librarians Work to Prevent Library Anxiety.”
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Granfield, Diane, Mary Kandiuk, Harriet Sonne de Torrens. Library Innovation 2, 2 (2011): 36-55.
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Laguardia, Cheryl. “Library Instruction in the Digital Age.”
Journal of Library Administration 51 (2011): 301-308. Wong, Shun Han Rebekah and T.D. Webb. “Uncovering
Meaningful Correlation Between Student Academic
Lippincott, Joan K. “A Mobile Future for Academic Performance and Library Material Usage.” College &
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8. Thank you!
Questions? Comments?
Email: claire.parker@uwo.ca
Phone: 519-661-2111 x83441
Web: http://claireelizabethparker.wordpress.com/
Slides are available online:
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