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The Future of Research Collections: Navigating Change in Libraries

Explore the evolving landscape of research collections in libraries, from the Gutenberg era to the digital age. Discover new models, predictions, and stumbling blocks affecting libraries today. Join the conversation on the future of collections with Rick Anderson, Acting Dean at the University of Utah.

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The Future of Research Collections: Navigating Change in Libraries

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  1. The River, the Pond, and the Future of the Research Collection Rick Anderson Acting Dean

  2. The Recent Past: a Quick Review • 1990s: The Gutenberg Terror comes to an end • Stage 1: Journals • Stage 2: Books – piecemeal (NetLibrary, etc.) • Stage 3: Books – wholesale (Google, Hathi Trust) • 2000s: Gutenberg is tamed and domesticated • Print on demand

  3. The Recent Past: a Quick Review • Library hegemony comes to an end • Massive drop in unit price of information • Radical increase in ease of finding • Ready reference becomes a social exercise • Full-text searching obviates the proxy record • Access (for many) becomes virtually ubiquitous • Meanwhile, librarians working busily to undermine their own role as brokers (OA)

  4. The Current Reality • The collection is a bad guess at patron needs • Massive budget cuts make collecting hard to defend • Reference service is bypassed and unscalable • The OPAC is completely eclipsed as a discovery tool (even with WorldCat)

  5. The Current Reality • The collection is a bad guess at patron needs • Massive budget cuts make collecting hard to defend • Reference service is bypassed and unscalable • The OPAC is completely eclipsed as a discovery tool (even with WorldCat) • Circulation is down dramatically • Gate counts are up, but the stacks are deserted

  6. Circ Trends at the University of Utah

  7. New Models • Online  just-in-time (both e and p) • Online  breakdown of collection walls • Higher prices/less budget  less speculation • Higher prices/less budget  less archival purchasing • Less circulation  strong e-only momentum • Online + better data + higher prices + less budget  the end of the Big Deal and of the Medium Deal (title-level journal subscriptions) in favor of the Tiny Deal Bottom line: Less collecting (ponds), more real-time brokerage (access to the river)

  8. What We Are Doing at UU • Formalised stance: e-first/patron-first • PDA pilot programs: MyiLibrary, ebrary, NetLibrary, EBL • Espresso Book Machine • No more bibliographers/subject specialists • Instead, College & Interdisciplinary Teams • SHEM (Science, Health, Engineering, Mines) • SEBS (Social Sciences, Education, Business, Social Work) • FAAPH (Fine Arts, Architecture/Planning, Humanities) • DOCMAPS (Documents, Maps) • MEDIA (Multimedia) • INTERINTER (International/Interdisciplinary)

  9. Predictions • The future of the library will not look much like a library • Small, focused local collections of books • Access to enormous public collections (Hathi, Google) • Few subscriptions, if any • No packages • A need for consolidated brokerage service at article level, not title level • Journals are going the way of the record album • We’re headed back to a “song” economy • Journal publishers are going the way of the record label • You can’t make as much on a 99-cent song as you can on a $15 album

  10. Stumbling Blocks • Sclerotic librarians • Fainthearted library leaders • (Legacy accreditation structures) • (Legacy RPT structures) • (Justifiably) fainthearted publishers • Customer-focused competitors

  11. Discuss! Contact: Rick Anderson rick.anderson@utah.edu

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