These short “
pecha kucha-like” sessions will feature 5 PowerPoint presentations of 6 minutes and 40 seconds each. We will have time at the end of the session intended for Q&A for all presenters. Come for a lively, rapid-fire group of talks.
1) Does Size Really Matter in International and Area Studies Collections? Evaluating Collection Development Policies through Usage Assessment (Osman Celik)How much of collection development for international and area studies should be driven by research interests of faculty and graduate students rather than de facto just-in case approach? The current status of research library stacks certainly calls for a more balanced and sustainable collection development model in areas studies print materials. Engaging in re-evaluation and re-strategizing of research libraries' traditional approach to international print collections is critical with important implications for collections as well as materials budget. Embracing more research-interest driven collection development not only has the potential to significantly improve faculty and graduate students' research across campuses but also the potential to offer for more efficient and strategic distribution of materials budget for years to come.
This usage assessment study employs three different assessments of the UCLA Library's area studies print collections. The first assessment involves usage-based analysis of print monograph collections in major area studies acquired between 2005-2015 fiscal years. The second assessment presents a more detailed usage analysis for the Library's historical collection of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies using OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis tool. The last assessment presents an analysis of LC subject headings and classification numbers of Middle East print collection and their level of match with research interests of faculty and graduate students. The outcome of the usage assessment suggests a departure from traditional just in case collection policy to a collection strategy that is more research interest driven and more collaborative collection development across regional and system libraries.
2) A Tempest in a Teapot? Comparing Same-Publisher Sales Before and After DDA Withdrawal (Carol Cramer)After a major publisher removed its frontlist from the EBL short-term-loan (STL) program, the Wake Forest University library (in a fit of pique) removed the affected books from its Demand-Driven Acquisition pool. What happened next? Did individual librarian selectors start buying more print from this publisher, offsetting any savings? Did the publisher make more sales from WFU before or after the change? In addition to comparing this one publisher before and after the change, I will compare outcomes with another publisher that did not change its participation in STLs during the study period. Along the way, I will share the methodology I used so that this limited study could be broadened in the future to encompass other publishers and other libraries.
3) What Next for Content Platforms in a Fast-Changing World? (Simon Inger)
Today, some obvious choices appear to publishers when they are making decisions about their platform: they can build their own (costly, requires expertise); they can partner with an established platform vendor (pre-built and reduces costs but also control for the publisher); or use a hosting service (the cheaper option but further reduces control and ability to control branding). A platform has theoretically got a predictable life cycle: launch; a few years of stability, during which time technology develops until it starts to look and feel out of date, followed by a period of requirements gathering before a new platform needs to be built and launched.
But change is afoot. Increasing numbers of users access content outside the publishers’ platform, facilitated by Sci-Hub and ResearchGate, alongside a landscape of corporate changes and challenges occurring in the main players in the platform space. The questions we must ask have no easy answers: what next? What should publishers do? How does this affect libraries? Is there an opportunity for new players? Is there an opportunity here for a whole new approach?
Simon Inger founded the world’s first journal platform service provider in 1994, and continues to be an expert on innovations and trends in the platform space. Simon and his colleagues have run large studies every three years since 2005 examining how users discover content. Join him as he maps out potential future scenarios and starts to explore what that might mean to publishers, libraries and researchers.
4) Silo Busting: Adding Value through Resource Sharing Diversification (Courtney McAllister, Brandon Lewter, Renna Redd)Resource sharing offers opportunities to add value to the patron experience and library collection through systematic integration with acquisitions and collection development operations. With electronic resources becoming increasingly popular, and users relying more heavily on instantaneous access, resource sharing librarians need to strategically adapt to meet the needs of their patrons and institutions. Demand-driven acquisitions, commercial document delivery services, consortia-driven collection development strategies, and institutional workflow analyses are some of the ways resource sharing librarians can deconstruct departmental silos and provide valuable services to their local borrowers and inter-institutional partners. Due to the inherent complexity of resource sharing and collection development, there is no universal strategy that will work for every institution. However, sharing case studies, developing best practices, and discussing future possibilities can help attendees recognize and pursue silo busting opportunities at their own organizations. This paper explores the various strategies and processes being employed at three academic institutions with unique demands and needs. Despite their distinctive properties, these scenarios reflect an underlying commitment to collaboration, innovation, and exemplary service.
5) What do Smithsonian Scientists Want From Their Libraries? (Barbara Ferry)
The Natural & Physical Science (NPS) Libraries at the Smithsonian consist of the libraries serving the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the National Zoological Park and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Much has been written about the dramatic shift in recent years to electronic resources in university research environments, but there are few recent studies on the use of libraries by museum research staff. As the new head of NPS, I needed to understand the use of scientific sources and library services in this unique environment. Together with the members of the NPS Libraries Advisory Committee, we developed a survey that investigated museum staff’s views and use of the library. Questions included use of library print and digital collections for research, service and training priorities, methods employed to find scholarly journal articles, and data management. More than 260 individuals responded, and the result provided actionable insights into the research and service priorities for the libraries.
