Research Article: “Visions of Value: Leading the Development of a View of the University Library in the 21st Century”

The following article (open access) recently made available online is published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship.

Title

Visions of Value: Leading the Development of a View of the University Library in the 21st Century

Authors

Gavin Boyce
Angela Greenwood
Amy Haworth
Jacky Hodgson
Chris Jones
Gary Marsh
Maria Mawson
Rosa Sadler
Affiliations: University of Sheffield (All Authors)

Source

Journal of Academic Librarianship
Volume 45, Issue 5 (September 2019, 102046)
DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2019.102046

Abstract

Over the course of 2018 the University of Sheffield Library conducted a series of interviews and workshops with stakeholders as part of a strategic project to reflect on the value of the university library in the 21st century.

Using a mixed methodology, participants were asked to reflect upon the future Higher Education (HE) environment for the university and, for academic participants, their discipline. In this context participants were also asked to reflect upon the future value of the University Library in a series of questions designed to elicit value statements using a tool which the project group have called the ‘Wheel of Value’.

The resulting reflections upon the future environment have been grouped into four categories reflecting the drivers for change; Digitalisation, Student Experience, Diversification and Collaboration recognizing that there is considerable overlap and interconnection between these. The reflections on the future value of the library are presented by Wheel of Value higher order categorization. This approach proved useful in eliciting responses from participants in the face of recognized difficulty in getting beyond current views of the library and the approach is recommended to other universities looking to carry out a similar project. The results of this research will be used to inform the development of a view of the library for the purpose of engaging with our university community and key partners.

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Filed under: Academic Libraries, Interviews, Libraries, News, Open Access