Virtual Environments at the University of Kansas Libraries

Scott Hanrath

Students & Library Websites

• Use it (59%)• Not a starting point (0%)

• Find what they need (99%)• More trustworthy• More accurate

Source: OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. A report to the OCLC membership

Students & Search Engines

• Really use them (93%)• Starting point (83%)

• Faster• More convenient• Easier• More reliable

Source: OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community. A report to the OCLC membership

Choosers vs Users

“As the people institutions are accustomed to think of as users refashion themselves as choosers, colleges and universities will have to devise new ways of supporting constituencies and looking out for institutional interests.”

Ronald Yanosky. “From Users to Choosers: Central IT and the Challenge or Consumer Choice”. EDUCAUSE Review, Nov/Dec 2010

Faculty & The Gateway Function

• Gateway function declining in importance

• Gateway (59%) less important than Archive (71%) or Buyer (90%) functions

• Disciplinary differences: Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences

Source: Schonfeld and Housewright. Faculty Survey 2009: Key Strategic Insights for Libraries, Publishers, and Societies. Ithaka S+R, 2010.

Scholarly Communication

• Publishing and Repositories

• Data

• Digital Humanities

Environments for Discovery

vs

Discoverable Environments ?

openaccess.ku.edu

Thanks!

Scott Hanrathshanrath@ku.edu

@rshanrath