STAFF RESOURCES |
2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition (OCLC, 2003)
This study identifies and describes "issues and trends that are impacting and will impact OCLC, libraries, museums, archives and other allied organizations, positively and negatively." Social, economic, technology, research and learning, and library landscapes are explored, and the scope is international.
Environmental Scan 2007 (Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008)
The ACRL Environmental Scan 2007 was conducted "to identify "the major assumptions shaping the practice of academic librarianship as well as to identify emergent issues of concern to the profession." Included are: the "Top Ten Assumptions for the Future of Academic Libraries and Librarians" as well as a number of emergent issues, such as: "The focus for academic libraries will shift from the creation and management of large, on-site library collections to the design and delivery of library services."
What to Withdraw: Print Collections Management in the Wake of Digitization (Ithaka, 2009)
This report "analyzes which types of journals can be withdrawn responsibly today and how that set of materials can be expanded to allow libraries the maximum possible flexibility and savings in the future." Should the print originals of journals be de-accessioned when the content is available in digital form? An introduction and comments are available here:
http://www.ithaka.org/ithaka-s-r/research/what-to-withdraw.
Net Generation Students and Libraries (CNI, 2005)
This book chapter by Joan Lippincott gives specific recommendations for "developing library content, services, and environments that are responsive to Net Gen Students…." Other chapters in
Educating the Net Generation are also on point for library planning.
No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century (CLIR 2008)
CLIR convened a meeting of librarians, publishers, faculty members, and information technology specialists February 2008 to address such questions as: What are the critical functions of the research library in this changing landscape? How should we be rethinking the research library in a dynamic, swiftly changing landscape dominated by digital technology? Perspectives discussed were: library culture and change, new alliances with students, redefining the library workforce, new kinds of engagement with faculty, identifying the library's competitive advantage, the library's relationship with the commercial sector, expanding the ideas of collaboration and collective action, need for experimentation, the fragility of academic publishing, peer review, promotion and tenure, and international context. Part I of the report concludes with nine recommendations for higher education leadership. Part II is comprised of background essays prepared by eight participants.
Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (OCLC, 2005)
This study reveals "people's information-seeking behaviors, how familiar people are with the variety of e-resources libraries provide for their users, and how libraries fit into the lives of the respondents. … The topics explored in the survey include the perceptions and preferences of information consumers; users' relationship with and use of libraries, including usage of and familiarity with electronic information resources; awareness of libraries and resources offered; the "Library" brand and its ubiquity and universality; trust of libraries and their resources; and people's perceptions of the library's purpose/mission."
Top Technology Trends (LITA, midwinter and annual conferences)
The Library and Information Technology Association sponsors a public gathering of technology experts at each midwinter and annual conference of the American Library Association. Audio, video, and individual expert reports are all available on the LITA blog. Sessions prior to 2007 are available
here.
Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs (NRC, 2010)
This study will assess the quality and characteristics of research-doctorate programs at institutions in the United States. The study includes: 1. The collection of quantitative data through questionnaires administered to institutions, programs, faculty, and admitted to candidacy students (in selected fields); 2. The collection of additional program data on publications, citations, and dissertation keywords; and 3. The design and construction of program ratings using the collected data. check IRIS fir the 1995 study under the title: Research Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change.
College Students and Technology (Pew, 2011)
"By every key measurement, college students lead the way in tech and gadget use. But community college students do not use digital tools as much as four-year college students and graduate students."
The Digital Revolution and Higher Education (Pew, 2011)
As online college courses have become increasingly prevalent, the general public and college presidents offer different assessments of their educational value.
ECAR National Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2011 Report (EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2010)
"…The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010 is a longitudinal extension of the annual 2004 through 2009 studies. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2010 survey of 36,950 freshmen and seniors at 100 four-year institutions and students at 27 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 84 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to exploring student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, including ownership and use of Internet-capable handheld devices, the 2010 study also includes a special focus on student use of social networking websites and web-based applications." The college or university library website is defined as a core technology and shown to be used by a majority of respondents. Rutgers did not participate in this study.
Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2009; Graduation Rates, 2003 & 2006 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2009 (NCES, 2011)
"This First Look report presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2010 data collection. This collection included five components: Student Financial Aid for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students for the 2008-09 academic year; Enrollment for fall 2009; Graduation Rates within 150 percent of normal program completion time for full-time, first-time degree/ certificate-seeking undergraduate students beginning college in 2003 at 4-year institutions or in 2006 at less-than-4-year institutions; Graduation Rates within 200 percent of normal program completion time for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students beginning college in 2001 at 4-year institutions or in 2005 at less-than-4-year institutions; and Finance for fiscal year 2009."
Faculty Surveys: 2000-2009
Ithaka S+R's Faculty Surveys are conducted every three years and include 3,000+ faculty. They examine changes in faculty attitudes toward the academic library, information resources, and the scholarly communications system as a whole. The surveys include US colleges and universities that grant at least a bachelor's degree and provide discipline specific information as well as long-term trend analysis.
Generations and Their Gadgets (Pew, 2011)
"While many devices have become popular across generations, younger adults are leading the way in increased mobility, preferring laptops to desktops and using their cell phones for a variety of functions. "
Horizon Report (New Media Consortium, 2004-)
"The New Media Consortium's Horizon Project charts the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression and produces the annual Horizon Report. Since the launch of the Horizon Project in March 2002, the NMC has held an ongoing series of conversations and dialogs with hundreds of technology professionals, campus technologists, faculty leaders from colleges and universities, and representatives of leading corporations. Each year, an Advisory Board considers the results of these dialogs and also looks at a wide range of articles, published and unpublished research, papers, and websites to generate a list of technologies, trends, challenges, and issues that knowledgeable people in technology industries, higher education, and museums are thinking about." Time to adoption for the technologies identified is reported in three groups: one year or less, two to three years, and four to five years.
Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future ('Google Generation' project) (University College London, 2008)
"This study was commissioned by the British Library and JISC to identify how the specialist researchers of the future, currently in their school or pre-school years, are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years' time." The `Google generation' is defined as those born after 1993. The broad aims of the study include discovering whether or not searching and researching content will be done in new ways.
Institutional Versus Academic Discipline Measures of Student Experience: A Matter of Relative Validity (Steve Chatman, 2007)
Results from nearly 60,000 responses (38% response rate) to the University of California's census survey of undergraduates in 2006 found greater variance among majors within an institution than between equivalent majors across institutions.
Ithaka's 2006 Studies of Key Stakeholders in the Digital Transformation in Higher Education (Ithaka, 2008)
This document presents some of the findings of two large scale surveys conducted in 2006: how technologies are impacting faculty and librarian attitudes and behaviors. The survey generated 4,100 faculty and 350 librarian responses. It focuses on identifying differences between respondents based on institutional size and disciplinary divisions. Full data from the studies are available from ICPSR.
Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Insights From U.S. Academic Library Directors (Ithaka, 2010)
"Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Insights From U.S. Academic Library Directors aims to help academic libraries and other members of the higher education community understand the changing role of the library and how to strategically adapt to an increasingly digital environment. This survey focuses on the issues related to the strategies library administrators are pursuing for their libraries, the management of library collections, the development of new digital collections, and the creation of new services to meet changing user needs. "
A Multi-Dimensional Framework for Academic Support (University of Minnesota Libraries, 2006)
"The University of Minnesota Libraries received support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a multi-dimensional model for assessing support for scholarship in the context of a large research campus. The project team explored discipline-specific needs for facilities, information content, services, tools, and expertise in the humanities and social sciences. The goal was to develop a model for bringing greater coherence to these distributed resources through physical and virtual means, and also a research support environment that could be modeled, prototyped, and evaluated. The study is also being used to assist the academic leadership in understanding how libraries can promote the physically boundless nature of inquiry and information use. "[Project Abstract] One result is development of a Scholar's Collective that would support creation of useful tools for humanities scholarship and capacity for collaborative.
State of America's Libraries (ALA, 2011)
The State of America's Libraries Report is produced annually by the American Library Association and is packed with key library trends and data. For academic libraries, for example, the 2011 report summarizes NCES and ECAR studies and notes that "Academic libraries added 20 million e-books in 2008, bringing the total to about 102.5 million-a breathtaking two-year increase of 59.4 percent from the 64.3 million held in fiscal 2006...."
What Matters to Student Success: A Review of the Literature (NPEC, 2006)
This commissioned report for the national Symposium on Postsecondary Student Success examines student background and experiences as well as institutional characteristics associated with success during and after college.
Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
ARL is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries at comprehensive, research-extensive institutions in the US and Canada that share similar research missions, aspirations, and achievements. ARL compiles annual statistics and produces a number of comprehensive reports and publications. SPEC surveys, one series, gather information from ARL member institutions on current research library practices and policies.
Council on Library and Information Resources
CLIR is an independent, nonprofit organization. Rutgers University is a sponsor. CLIR's mission is to expand access to information, however recorded and preserved, as a public good. CLIR pursues three primary goals in support of its mission: 1) to foster new approaches to the management of digital and nondigital information resources so that they will be available in the future, 2) to expand leadership capacity in the information professions, and 3) to analyze changes in the information landscape and help practitioners prepare for them.
CLIR publications report research and survey work on current topics important to research libraries and are available in the Libraries administrative offices.
EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR)
The mission of ECAR is to foster better decision making by conducting and disseminating research and analysis about the role and implications of information technology in higher education. ECAR assembles leading scholars, practitioners, researchers, and analysts to focus on issues of critical importance to higher education, many of which carry increasingly complicated and consequential implications. ECAR provides educational leaders with high-quality, well-researched, timely information to support institutional decision-making. Rutgers is a subscriber, which enables faculty and staff to establish an
account and read or download studies.
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. provides information technology research and advice to CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, and technology investors. Browsing through any of the topics listed on the home page leads to a number of interesting studies applicable to library IT development.
Ithaka
ITHAKA is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2003 whose mission includes "helping the academic community take full advantage of rapidly advancing information and networking technologies." Ithaka S+R (strategy and research) "supports innovation in higher education by working with initiatives and organizations to develop sustainable business models and by conducting research and analysis on the impact of digital media on the academic community as a whole."
New Media Consortium (NMC)
The NMC is an international 501(c)3 not-for-profit consortium of nearly 300 learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. Rutgers membership is managed by the Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research. Of particular interest is the Horizon Project, which, as the centerpiece of NMC's Emerging Technologies Initiative, the charts the landscape of emerging technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression and produces the NMC's annual
Horizon Report.
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC)
Founded in 1967, OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing the rate of rise of library costs. The Rutgers University Libraries are members of OCLC and its RLG Partners program. Among the many publications available from OCLC, the
membership reports are in-depth studies and topical surveys that about issues and trends that affect librarianship and libraries.
OCLC Research: Activities
Of particular interest are the activities grouped under the "User Behavior Studies & Synthesis" theme, where the focus is: "…studying the behavior of library users, from public library patrons and undergraduate students to scholars and researchers, to determine their perceptions and information usage habits of a variety of reference services. Our objective is to identify and share recommendations on how to better serve library users' needs now and in the future."
Pew Internet and American Life Project
The Pew Internet and American Life Project studies the social impact of the internet. All of the reports, presentations, and data sets dating back to the year 2000 are available for free. Reports are easily accessed by topic. Be sure not to limit yourself to just the "Libraries" topic since many of the topics explore what people are looking at online and why they are choosing to use the Internet.