Utah Libraries » Academic Libraries http://utahlibraries.org Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:01:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Futures Thinking for Academic Libraries http://utahlibraries.org/2010/09/futures/ http://utahlibraries.org/2010/09/futures/#comments Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:02:49 +0000 Colleen Eggett http://library.utah.gov/utahlibraries/?p=1081 Futures Thinking for Academic Libraries: Higher Education in 2025 by Staley and Malenfant tells of 26 possible scenarios that may impact academic libraries in the next 15 years. The scenarios include things like academic culture, demographics, distance education, funding, globalization, infrastructure/facilities, libraries, political climate, publishing industry, societal values, students/learning, and technology. The authors have examined the . . . → Read More: Futures Thinking for Academic Libraries]]> Futures Thinking for Academic Libraries: Higher Education in 2025 by Staley and Malenfant tells of 26 possible scenarios that may impact academic libraries in the next 15 years. The scenarios include things like academic culture, demographics, distance education, funding, globalization, infrastructure/facilities, libraries, political climate, publishing industry, societal values, students/learning, and technology. The authors have examined the probability, impact, speed of change, and threat/opportunity potential of each scenario.

Of the 26 scenarios discussed, those with the highest impact and probability are:

  • Breaking the textbook monopoly. Most states will have passed legislation that requires textbook publishers to make textbooks affordable in the future.
  • Bridging the scholar/practitioner divide. Online publications, by scholarly societies in partnership with trade organizations and professional associations, are predicted to be open access and support robust community-based dialogue.
  • Everyone is a “non-traditional” student. The interwoven nature of work/life/school will be accepted in higher education as life spans increase and students are unable to fund tuition in one lump.
  • Increasing threat of cyberterrorism. University and library IT systems will be the targets of hackers, criminals, and rogue states, disrupting operations for days and weeks at a time.
  • The new freshman class will be more tech savvy than ever. With laptops in their hands since the age of 18-months old, students who are privileged socially and economically will be completely fluent in digital media.
  • School is right here with me. Students will “talk” through homework with their handheld devices, which issue alerts when passing a bookstore with material they need. Students locate study team members and hold impromptu meetings without needing study rooms.
  • Classes may have private business sponsorship. At for-profit institutions, education may be very disaggregated and very competitive.

Read the full article and see all that is said.

Read more on the value of academic libraries, by ACRL

Everyone is concerned for the future of libraries, academic, public, private, special. No one feels immune, the vast expansion of the digital era brings the future of the book and the library that houses it into question. Will the library survive the times or be the next steam locomotive?

]]> http://utahlibraries.org/2010/09/futures/feed/ 0 Outcomes based training for libraries http://utahlibraries.org/2009/08/outcomes/ http://utahlibraries.org/2009/08/outcomes/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:09:55 +0000 Colleen Eggett http://utahlibraries.org/?p=934 Yesterday I went to a very interesting training sponsored by UALC:  Outcomes based measurement by Julie Todaro. She did a great job. There were many people there (maybe 100) from academic libraries in Utah. It was kind of fun to catch up with some of my old “cronies” from when I used to work at Primary. . . . → Read More: Outcomes based training for libraries]]> Yesterday I went to a very interesting training sponsored by UALC:  Outcomes based measurement by Julie Todaro. She did a great job. There were many people there (maybe 100) from academic libraries in Utah. It was kind of fun to catch up with some of my old “cronies” from when I used to work at Primary. I miss all of those people a lot and wish I did more to connect with them. They always felt like friends to me (and still do).

It reminded me of the time I spent one week in DC doing OBE with the IMLS. I enjoyed that training as well. I went with Rose Frost and Juan Lee. It was a lot of fun.  Rose and I got split up on the metro one night. She went one way and I went another but we finally both got back to the hotel in one piece. Actully the IMLS training was very well done and really taught me alot on the topic. It was one week vs one day, and was so good. Much more in depth, actually.

This fall I plan to teach long range planning training to public library directors in Utah. I will use what I learned from Todaro, what I learned in DC, and what I learned from Sandra Nelson for the training. It will be based on the Planning for Results by Sandra Nelson.  It all has to do with good, meaningful reporting of what people want to accomplish in their libraries. I’ll have the training schedule up pretty soon, probably in 3 locations in Utah, and hope to get Craig Neilson and maybe others from USL to help out on the instruction. People have been calling me and emailing me about when it will start so I know there;s high interest among Utah library directors. When it’s posted you can register online at http://library.utah.gov/workshops

]]> http://utahlibraries.org/2009/08/outcomes/feed/ 0 Professional Excellence grant, July 2008 http://utahlibraries.org/2008/07/professional-excellence-grant-july-2008/ http://utahlibraries.org/2008/07/professional-excellence-grant-july-2008/#comments Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:55:17 +0000 Colleen Eggett http://utahlibraries.org/?p=352  By Adam Winger, Utah State University Library

As part of my education in the Library Science program from the University of North Texas I enrolled in a class titled Academic Libraries.  The Utah State Library Professional Excellence Grant financially supported my efforts for the class, for which I am very grateful.  The Academic Libraries class instructed me . . . → Read More: Professional Excellence grant, July 2008]]>  By Adam Winger, Utah State University Library

As part of my education in the Library Science program from the University of North Texas I enrolled in a class titled Academic Libraries.  The Utah State Library Professional Excellence Grant financially supported my efforts for the class, for which I am very grateful.  The Academic Libraries class instructed me in the variety of services and resources that many academic libraries provide.  I learned much about government repositories, such as the Merrill-Cazier Library in which I work.  I also learned about many of the current technological trends such as Radio Frequency Identification tags used for organization and inventory of library collections. 

The Academic Libraries class helped to inform me about the many things occurring in modern academic libraries.  The knowledge will continue to evolve over time but I have gained a sound base upon which I may build my career as a professional librarian within the academic community. 

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