Reimagining the Academic Library

Go Circular! by zeronaut 

Micka, Tracy

INFO266, Fall 2016

Lewis, D.W. (2016, April 21). Reimagining the Academic Library [Webinar]. In Spring 2016 ACRL-Choice Webinars. Retrieved from http://acrlchoice.learningtimesevents.org/webinar-apr212016/

Summary:

David Lewis, Dean of the University Library at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, and thought-leader on the changing role of academic libraries, recently provided a webinar for ACRL members about his new book, Reimagining the Academic Library. The focus of David Lewis’ hour-long presentation (and the premise of the book) settles on the question, what does it mean to be a library/librarian as our collections go away? Working from a number of Clayton Christensen’s theories, including Disruptive Innovation and Jobs to be Done, Lewis succinctly outlines the forces faced by academic libraries, the things we need to think about moving forward, and a prescriptive list of the 10 things we need to do right now.  For Lewis, it all centers around flipping the role of the academic library from an institution that brings in content from the outside, to one that preserves and makes available scholarly content created by, and important to, their own scholars. The lynchpin is to retire the legacy print collection now. Right now. The sooner the print items go away, the sooner the library can focus on strategies to help students and faculty do what they need to do in a way that is more effective, convenient and affordable. Of course, this has everything to do with the disruptive innovations of purchase-on-demand, open access, and growth of high quality OER / digital content. There’s no love coming to commercial publishing companies from Lewis. Lewis understands the economics of information and the evolving environment of the scholarly record- and you will begin to as well after reading his book (or watching this webinar).

My comments:

Lewis makes a strong case for what remains the touchiest of subjects: throwing away good books! Ok, not throwing them away, but getting them out of the library (ideally in some kind of consortial arrangement), in order that we may have space and resources to provide a service that ‘the market’ (google, etc) cannot. What we really need is space for students to study and a sustainable model of preserving the scholarly record- which, by the way, he points out, is a wicked problem given the high rates of link rot and content drift. Still, his presentation is not all about pointing out obvious obstacles and unsolvable problems, rather he’s quite optimistic that we can make the leap. Watch the webinar (you don't have to be an ACRL member- just fill out the form), or read the book to find out how! This would be a great book for a staff read & discuss event.