We in higher education are integrally connected, both personally and collectively. As John Donne wrote in his famous meditation, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” Changes in one part affect the whole. As a library administrator, I think frequently about the changes facing academic libraries and of the inevitable broader implications for our institutions.
Libraries are moving beyond their original function of acquiring and providing access to scholarship as they are increasingly connecting to the broader domain of information and supporting their campus communities in its use. The libraries of the future will be different because the information universe will be different; information is growing not only in quantity, but also in the complexity of processes associated with using it.
Two trends are emerging in the development of academic libraries. On one hand, they are becoming more holistic learning environments, supporting a variety of needs. Students receive help finding information, but they also find help with writing, course tutoring, expertise with specialized technologies, and uniquely designed study spaces. Depending on the circumstances of each institution, the library may become a “lab outside the classroom,” a one-stop learning facility, or a student version of faculty centers for teaching and learning.
On the other hand, libraries are becoming sophisticated research centers, supporting the manipulation, analysis, creation, and construction of knowledge. We see this in such diverse initiatives as data curation and visualization, digital humanities, and scholarly communication.
Concerns about library change frequently focus on the conflict that surrounds withdrawing books to make rooms for other services. These debates miss the point entirely. What is important is not whether the library removes books, but whether, and to what degree, library resources and services are integrated into teaching, learning, and research. Within this context, books, databases, library instruction, and the reference desk all deserve scrutiny.
Change itself is not the issue. Instead, we should be concerned about the process by which libraries are reshaped and repositioned to play an essential role in achieving institutional goals. This issue is not only about libraries. It is about how campus communities come together to provide relevant resources, technologies, and skills for the next generation of learners and researchers.
Donne’s existential meditation provokes us to recognize, or feel at a more visceral level, that our connections are deeper than organizational life might suggest. We are the sum of our relationships with each other as people, and our departments with other departments. Changes in academic libraries are not isolated from the activities, relationships, and changes in other departments.
Beyond philosophical and poetic reflections, however, the integration of the library into the teaching, learning, and research functions of the academic departments should be manifest in the core operations of colleges and universities.
So, what might that look like? To some degree, we see it when the teaching of more-complex information skills are scattered across the curriculum. Or when a librarian participates in a course as an embedded participant. Or when assignments are created in collaboration with librarians in a way that incorporates library resources, technologies, and information-skill development. But while these instances suggest some degree of integration, they are mere shadows of the transformative possibilities.
Deeper integration will mean positioning the library as a deliberate contributor to student learning and faculty research. Libraries cannot afford to support “just in case” information resources and services. The collections, spaces, reference services, instruction, and technologies they provide should be carefully connected to the missions and strategies of their institutions.
The success of academic libraries, and indeed of the academic institution, has much to do with our collective understanding and explicit support for the mastery of information skills in specific disciplines.
What, for example, are the critical information skills required in the field of anthropology? How best can the library teach them? Only by answering this question can we begin to identify the future role of the library and its integration into the core mission of its institution.
Integration is not simply about the sharing of information, but about mutual engagement in issues to enhance our work together in teaching, learning, and research. Here are some ways to make that happen:
- Joint appointments. With a foot in both worlds, the joint appointee would retain the important role of identifying necessary information resources and services, monitoring trends in both disciplines, and facilitating dialogue about practical interdisciplinary issues.
- Memorandums of understanding. Among other goals, these documents, drawn up between the library and the academic departments, could specify interdepartmental responsibilities for collection development, the provision of library and information-related instruction across the curriculum, and the frequency of discussions on substantive issues of mutual concern.
- Embedded subject librarians. They may hold office hours within an academic department, participate in unit meetings, provide consultations, or teach a series of class sessions on information skills, technology applications, or critical thinking.
- Co-taught research courses. Such a team-teaching approach could enhance mutual understanding of interdisciplinary practices and priorities, and provide a foundation for the library’s future support of learning and research.
Such academic integration represents a revolution for the library profession, and for the institutions they serve. It will be the standard by which academic communities assess the value and success of their libraries — for, in the end, we rise and fall together.
Dane Ward is dean of Milner Library at Illinois State University.
