Role of a 21 st Century Research Library in the Academy – Cornell Approaches

ROLE OF A 21ST CENTURY RESEARCH LIBRARY IN THE

ACADEMY – CORNELL APPROACHES

Anne KenneyXin Li

July 3, 2009

QUICK INTRODUCTIONUniversity University

• Founded in 1865

• 20,800 students

• 3,000 faculty

• 11,500 staff

• “Hottest Ivy” university

LibraryLibrary

• A top-10 U.S. research library

• 7.9 million print volumes

• 393,000 e-books

• 55,000 electronic journals

• $50 million annual budget

• 461 staff

THE LIBRARY IN ITS ACADEMY

Research institutions are in the business of provoking thought and libraries should aid and abet that process.

• June 18, 2009 data

• 134 learning professionals around the world

• #125 Google Maps

• # 127 RSS feedsSource: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/

5

THE SHIFTING CONTEXT OF THE LIBRARY

• Customization

• Openness

• Self Service

• Mutability

• Productivity

• Usability

• Assessment

• Marketing

• Strategic Action

• Business Plan

• Competition

• Resource Development

Presentation by James G. Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian of Columbia, for the ACRL New England Chapter, 2008

DISCOVER, SHARE, PARTICIPATE, CREATE

Sources:

Data.gov, June 20, 2009

New York Times, May 17, 2009

THE CHALLENGE

From “maintaining relevance” to being indispensable

TIMELESS STRATEGIES

Big IssuesKey Interventions

OrganizationalAlignment

MeasuringResults,Adjust

Focus on Academy Needs

WHAT MATTERS TO CORNELL?

Strategic Plan 2008

• Recruitment and retention of a quality and diverse faculty and staff

• Increased diversity of students

• Commitment to inter- and cross-disciplinary research and teaching

• An international focus

• Public service, land grant mission and beyond

• Expansion and improvement of graduate and professional programs

• Improvement and innovation in undergraduate teaching

POSITION THE LIBRARY





WHAT ARE THE BIG ISSUES?

• Undergraduate students– Information competency– Learning outcomes

• Graduate students– Attrition and completion rates

• Faculty– Digital processes and content– Interdisciplinary research

WHAT CAN THE LIBRARY DO?



• Faculty– Digital processes and content – Interdisciplinary research





LIBRARY INTERVENTIONS - UNDERGRADUATES

• Creating authentic and engaging research assignments

• University of California-Berkeley model

• Co-sponsored and funded by the Library and the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

• Students reported increase of their research skills

A librarian and a professor review plans for a freshman writing seminar.

BIOG 1103 POSTER PROJECT

Week 2 Student groups of three conduct orientation behavior study on fish, pillbugs or flesh fly larvae

Week 3 Record data based on scientific approach, using replications and non-parametric statistical tests

Weeks 3-4 Conduct primary literature research on the subject

Week 6 Submit the first version of poster

Week 11 Peer review of posters produced by other students

BIOG1303 EVALUATION RUBRIC FOR POSTERS

• Bullets use of rubrics clearly articulate expectations to students

• Used in both peer review and instructor reviews

• Examples include:

– use of proper scientific nomenclature

– statement of hypothesis(es) and prediction(s)

– proper citations to methods, figures, statistical procedures, and sources

– details results of analysis/testing and indicates significance level

– interprets/evaluates reported results with respect to hypothesis

STUDENTS CONDUCT PEER REVIEW OF FELLOW STUDENTS’ POSTERS

TAS SELECT BEST POSTER

PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AWARD POSTERS

MEASURING IMPACT

• Intervening at time of curriculum revision

• Meeting accreditation standards in Middle States review of the university

• Co-partnering with faculty in competition for Howard Hughes Medical Institute challenge grant to demonstrate excitement and creativity of science to undergraduates

• Longitudinal assessment









LIBRARY INTERVENTIONS - GRADUATES

It takes longer to complete a doctoral degree today than 25 years ago.

IMPACT IN THE HUMANITIES

QUESTIONS FOR THE LIBRARY

• At what point(s) in their programs are graduate students particularly vulnerable? Prior to passing their qualifying exams? In the writing phase?

• How does regular use of library services and collections impact attrition and completion rates?

• What library services could be envisioned as part of an intervention strategy to reverse these trends? How would such intervention be measured?

LIBRARY INTERVENTIONS - GRADUATES

• Extend library privileges to graduate students who are no longer enrolled

• Re-conceive library facilities to provide graduate students from across disciplines with an intellectual sense of community and a neutral, safe place

• Build on Information Competency Institute to create 4th year graduate student institute

MEASURING IMPACT

A carefully selected set of strategies, defined by qualitative and quantitative data, could be crafted in cooperation with the Graduate School, and then tested, implemented, and measured overtime to determine their impact on reversing attrition and completion rates.



• Graduate students– Learning and research– Degree completion






LIBRARY INTERVENTIONS - FACULTY

• In-process research

• New media art

• Data-driven science

• Inter-disciplinary research

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39302433@N05/3614778406/

IN-PROCESS RESEARCH

• Repository for physics, math and computer science papers

• 500,000 total submissions

• 27 million full-text downloads in 2008 = 74,000 a day

• Challenge: sustaining the success and library brand

arXiv e-print repository

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39302433@N05/3614778406/

New Media Digital interfaces

and artistic experimentation by international, independent artists.

DATA-DRIVEN SCIENCE

DISCOVER Research Service Group

• Formed in 2008• Domain scientists• Library• Center for Advanced Computing• Fedora Commons

“To facilitate data-driven science

at Cornell by developing

cross-disciplinary data archiving

and discovery tools.”

Focuses

• Curation• Preservation• Mining • Visualization

INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

PeopleResearch and publications

Academic centers and programs

Challenge: integrating scholarly resources and services

ontology model

Facilities and Labs

Events and seminars

MEASURING IMPACT

• Enabling new forms of scholarly expression on a global scale

• Securing support/advocacy at the Provost level

• Co-partnering with faculty and research centers

• Adoption at other universities

IMPLEMENTATION





ORGANIZATION - YESTERDAY

Scholarly Resources and Special Collections

Chief Technology Strategist

Central Library Operations

Teaching, Research, Outreach, and Learning Services

Information Technologies

Administrative Services

What does she

do?

Strategic Initiatives

ALIGNMENT – IDEAS BEHIND IT

Speed and Cost

• Buy

• Borrow

• License

MANAGING TRANSFORMATION – STAFF

• Organizational climate survey

• Strategic Alignment Group

• Management Council

Forest and trees, we need to have both.

DECISION MODEL

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bud_caddell/3651299665/

ALIGNMENT – SKILLS

– IT– Subject specialists– Informatics– Data-miners– MBAs

– Legal advisors– Designers– Public relations experts– Analysts– Demographers

• Reduced emphasis on Master of Library Science• Diversity of expertise

THE POWER OF MANY – COMBINE AND DIVERSIFY

“The research library should be redefined as a multi-institutional entity.”

No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century, Council on Library and Information Resources, 2008

SOME BOLD ASSERTIONS

Made at a plenary panel session at the Association of Research Libraries annual meeting in May 2009.

1.There is a collective wealth held hostage by redundant operations and collections at ARL libraries.

2.Many of the things we compete over don’t make our institutions more competitive.

3.Our history of collaboration may ironically make it more difficult to do radical collaboration.

4.Our staff would rather do more work than give up doing some things.

SAMPLE AUDIENCE RESPONSES

There is a collective wealth held hostage by redundant operations and collections at ARL libraries.

COLLECTIVE WEALTH OF ARL MEMBERS

2007/2008

Association of Research Libraries

$3,914,758,950

10% savings = $391M!

PARTNERSHIP WITH LIBRARIES

• 2CUL – A deep partnership between Cornell and Columbia Libraries

• Initial areas of focus:

− collection development

− technical services

− Infrastructure

• Testing model for potential to expand

PARTNERSHIP WITH NON-LIBRARIES

• Google: digitization

• Amazon.com: print on demand

• Internet Archive: free digital library

Research Libraries in the 21st CenturyA balance between physical and virtual presence

LIBRARY STRATEGIC PLANNING TASK FORCE

CHARGEThe Library must plan for a future in which:

• Library facilities are fewer in number and reconceived

• The local collection is smaller, but much more highly specialized and considered in the context of integrated collective partnerships with other leading research libraries

• Resources are redirected to meet new demands

• Services and expertise are closely aligned to university priorities

SHOW EVIDENCE





DATA REPORTING TO DATA MINING

• Learning outcomes- Does library make a difference for student and faculty?

• Benchmarking− How well we are doing compared to…?

• Performance indicators− As a business, how are we doing overall?

MAKE THE LIBRARY KNOWN

KEYS FOR SUCCESS

• Understanding the big challenges facing the academy

• Intervening early and often

• Partnering with key stakeholders

• Securing university support

• Factoring in things beyond our control

• Documenting the impact

• Being a powerful marketer

Thank You!

Documents

Role of a 21 st Century Research Library in the Academy – Cornell Approaches