Academic Libraries: Futures and Future Proofing

Liz Jolly

Director, Student and Library ServicesTeesside University

UHMLG 2017

Outline• Sector Changes:

– Higher Education and Research Bill, TEF

– Other changes

• What does this mean for Academic Libraries?

– Content, Space, Learners, Researchers

• Future Roles

• Alignment

Teesside University• 1930 Constantine College

• 1970 Teesside Polytechnic

• 1992 University of Teesside

• 2009 Teesside University

• 21, 000 students (14,000 FTE)

• 2,300 staff

• Times Higher Education University of the Year 2010

• Investors in People Gold (2012, 2014)

• Queens Anniversary Prize 2014-18

• Mission:Teesside University generates and applies knowledge that contributes to the economic, social and cultural success of students, partners and the communities we serve.

Through education enriched by research, innovation, and engagement with business and the professions, we transform lives and economies

Higher Education and Research Act 2017

• Office For Students (2018):

– Regulator and Funding Council• Quality and Standards

– Tuition fees

– Incorporation of Office for Fair Access

– Assessment for quality of Teaching (TEF

Higher Education and Research Act 2017

• Accelerated Degrees’ (higher fees)

• Alternative methods of financing

• UK Research and Innovation

• Research England

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)– Assessment of the quality of

teaching in England’s universities.

– Stated aims include

• Ensuring all students receive an excellent teaching experience

• Building a culture where teaching has equal status with research,

• Teachers enjoying the same professional recognition and opportunities researchers

TEF– Rating Universities as Gold, Silver or

Bronze

– Measures including NSS data; student retention rates and graduate employment

– “financial incentives” (maximum fees) to be determined according to the level awarded for an institution.

– Will lead fees to increasingly differentiate

Research• Nurse Review

• Stern Review of the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

• Tickell Review of Open Access

• Implementation of HEFCE Open Access Policy

Also…• Revised Operating Model

for Quality Assessment

• IFS: Graduate Earnings report

• HESA: Review of destinations and outcomes for leavers from HE

• NUS vote to ‘boycott or sabotage’ NSS 2017

So what does this mean for Academic Libraries?

• The ‘neo-liberal turn’?

• Teaching before learning

• Students as customers / consumers..

• Proving value

• Contribution to learning analytics

• Contribution to learning gain

• Research Support

Or…?

• Waiting for the great leap forward

• Pedagogy and Heutagogy

• Students as producer

• Proving impact

• Ethics of information analytics

• Digital literacies and critical thinking

• Scholarly communication

9th July 2010 UCL Library Services Staff Conference

Academic Libraries

• “Academic libraries are here to enable and enhance learning in all its forms - whether it be the learning of a first year undergraduate coming to terms with what is meant by higher education or the learning of a Nobel Prize winning scientist seeking to push forwards the frontiers of her discipline”

Peter Brophy (2005)

At a Tipping Point (OCLC)

• “ The (on campus) library is distinctly associated with providing the space, tools and information to get work done”

• “Library services match the needs of online learners but the perceptions do not….making convenience the new context for libraries can make all online learners library users”

2014

Library staff “may often think of their work as fundamentally involved with service delivery”

Scott Bennett 2015

Academic Libraries

Staff - services- support

Library

Space

9th July 2010 UCL Library Services Staff Conference

Resources

9th July 2010 UCL Library Services Staff Conference

Academic Libraries

“to enable and enhance learning in all its forms”

Academic Libraries

Staff

Pedagogy /Learner Heutagogy

Spaces

T e c h n o l o g y 9th July 2010 UCL Library Services Staff Conference

Content and Academic Communication

MIT: Future of Academic Libraries

• Community and relationships

• Discovery and use

• Stewardship and sustainability

• Research and Development

2016

Academic Libraries

Staff

Pedagogy /Learner Heutagogy

Spaces

T e c h n o l o g y 9th July 2010

Content and Academic Communication

Content and Academic Communication• “As different kinds of scholarly communication are

becoming more prevalent…librarians are expected to discern the legitimacy of these innovative approaches and their impact in the greater research community.”

• “Libraries are growing more adept at managing repositories, curating research data and promoting the sharing of open data”

NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition

Spaces• “Library space will need to be shared with a

variety of partners, and it is likely that the distinction between the library and other informal campus space will blur.”

David Lewis 2007

• “Who owns the space?...How will we shape the experience of ‘becoming’ in the library?”

Scott Bennett 2015

Learners (1)• “Student engagement represents both the time

and energy students invest in educationally purposeful activities and the effort institutions devote to using effective educational practices”

Kuh et al 2009

• “Students tend to be more engaged with learning on the whole if they engage with library resources, interact with library staff, and spend time using libraries”

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE)

Learners (2)• “Student as Producer emphasises the role of the

student as collaborators in the production of knowledge… It is fundamental to everything we do”

University of Lincoln

• “Participatory design provides methods for including non-traditional participants…[including] students in projects to design and develop new library technologies, spaces, and services. “

Nancy Fried Foster

Researchers• “The response to changes in the research environment

(funder requirements, publication modes and associated legal issues, e-access to information sources etc.) needs a concerted and collaborative response by libraries if they are to be accepted as offering essential and effective research support. Formalised, inter-institutional approaches to acquisition, storage and access, including metadata, will not only help libraries to realise opportunities, it will also address the urgent issues of reduced budgets.”

RLUK

Future roles? (1)

• Creative Learning Specialist

• UX Design Librarian

• Outreach/Community Engagement Specialist

• Adaptive Learning Specialist

ACRL 2015

Future Roles (2)

• From hybrid individual to multi-professional team

• ‘Salad not soup’ (Weaver and Roberts)

• Working across multiple environments Photo courtesy Jeremy Keith

Professional Values

• Stewardship

• Service

• Intellectual Freedom

• Privacy

• Rationalism

• Commitment to literacy and learning

• Equity of access

• Democracy

Alignment (1)• Professional confidence

• Learning to operate in broader institutional context

• Speaking the right language

• Working collaboratively

Alignment (2)• Continuing to learn and

develop as a reflective practitioner

• Embracing radical change

• Aligning library strategies and impact to institutional mission and strategic aims

Partnerships and Collaboration

“If UK higher education is going to prosper in the contemporary world it is going to have to become messier, less precious, more flexible and significantly more co-operative.”

David Watson (2015)

Outline• Sector Changes:

– Higher Education and Research Bill, TEF

– Other changes

• What does this mean for Academic Libraries?

– Content, Space, Learners, Researchers

• Future Roles

• Alignment

“The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities”

David Lankes 2011

Liz Jolly

Director

Student and Library Services

Teesside University

Middlesbrough

TS1 3BA

liz.jolly@tees.ac.uk @liz_jolly