Looking to the Future:  What’s the Mindset for a Successful Information Organization? by Keith Webster, Dean of the Libraries, Carnegie Mellon for the October 16, 2013 NISO Virtual Conference: Revolution or Evolution: The Organizational Impact of Electronic Content.

1. Looking to the future:
what’s the mindset for
a successful
information
organisation?
Keith Webster
Dean of University Libraries
16 October 2013
1

2. Our Professional Future
Access to information, ideas and works of
imagination is an essential characteristic of thriving
democracies, cultures and economies. This is
increasingly so in the global information society.
Information is a cultural, social and economic
resource and a commodity of crucial importance in a
huge range of diverse enterprises. Librarians and
information scientists can be at the heart of this
revolution, in demand for their creative, technical
and managerial expertise.
Library Association/Institute of Information Scientists, 1999

3. Overview of remarks
As a profession we add value
Not everyone recognises that!
There are tremendous opportunities to deploy
our skills
There isn’t much money to pay for more of us
We need to rethink our business operations to
free up our people

4. How do we add value?
British Library adds £419m
of value to the economy
each year
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/increasingvalue/britishlibrary_economicevaluation.pdf

5. Australian research study
Contingent valuation
Respondents were presented with different
hypothetical scenarios
They were asked about their willingness to pay,
and the amount they would expect to pay
Webster (2012) The evolving role of libraries in the scholarly ecosystem

6. Use of print resources
Frequently
Sometimes
Never
Journal articles
748
328
99
Books
557
565
53
Abstracts, indexes and bibliographies
342
458
375
32
264
879
Conference proceedings
163
633
379
Technical papers
144
408
623
10
116
1,049
148
554
473
CDs, DVDs, etc.
65
432
678
Other
27
51
206
Standards and specifications
Patents
Government publications

7. Use of electronic resources
Frequently
Sometimes
Never
1,112
57
6
Books
307
611
257
Datasets
204
411
560
Databases
624
371
180
52
275
848
Conference proceedings
250
667
258
Technical papers
174
432
569
27
167
981
195
565
415
AV materials
73
415
687
Other
18
23
213
Journal articles
Standards and specifications
Patents
Government publications

8. Time devoted to using information resources

9. Personal expenditure on information
resources
Nothing
15.4
$1-250
33.4
$251-500
23.9
$501-1000
16.3
$1001-1250
4.3
$1251-1500
1.7
Over $1500
5.1

10. How much does it all cost?
Respondents asked to indicate annual spend on
collections - to nearest $1 million
6 said $30 million + (3 reported $100m +)
51 less than $1,000,000
600 don’t know
UQ mean of $11.3 million
Equates to mean of $1,760 per capita
Actual spend is $2,797 per capita (37.1% under)

11. Value for money
Excellent
Value for money relative
to the level of
expenditure disclosed
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor
182
118
53
16
10

12. Where else would you go for stuff?
Another university to which I am also affiliated
106
Other universities to which I have no affiliation
173
National Library of Australia
113
State libraries
149
Other public libraries
58
Overseas universities
97
Learned Societies
36
Specialist subject-focused research institutions
73
Institutional and open access repositories
160
Purchase from publishers or document delivery intermediaries
172
Obtain from colleagues/authors
183
Other
23

13. Time matters
Less time than now – I could work more efficiently
1
None – it would make no difference to me
8
Up to 10 per cent more time
15
11-15 per cent more time
15
16-20 per cent more time
33
21-25 per cent more time
44
26-30 per cent more time
36
31-35 per cent more time
17
36-40 per cent more time
19
Over 40 per cent more time
191

14. Medium-long term effect on
research
Volume of research outputs
Volume will increase
16
Volume will remain unchanged
37
Volume will decrease
326
Total responses:
379
Quality of research
Quality will increase
15
Quality will remain unchanged
62
Quality will decrease
302
Total responses:
379

15. Key impacts of free access to information on
research
Access to information is indispensible for
research (91% strongly agree)
Maintain comprehensive overview of
developments in field (77%)
Eliminate unproductive time (74%)
Avoiding duplication of research done
elsewhere (50%)

16. Funding scenarios
Current spent on information resources
across the three sites is $2,496 per capita
Respondents were asked to recommend a
budget for the purchase of single-user
access to the resources they need - average
$3,511 per capita
Respondents were also asked to estimate the
costs if they had to be self-sufficient
(purchases, travel to libraries etc) - average
$5,894 per capita

17. Summary finding
The final scenario would result in total costs
to the institution of $81.4m compared to
actual spend of $34.5m - a financial return
of 136 percent

18. Making a difference
Adverse event avoided
Hospital admission
Hospital acquired infection
Percent
11.5
8.2
Surgery
21.2
Additional tests/procedures
49.0
Additional out-patient visits
26.4
Marshall (1994) The impact of information services on decision making

19. Making a difference
Adverse event avoided
Hospital admission
Hospital acquired infection
Percent
11.5
8.2
Surgery
21.2
Additional tests/procedures
49.0
Additional out-patient visits
26.4
Patient mortality
19.2
Marshall (1994) The impact of information services on decision making

20. What is happening in the world
is bypassing university libraries
Peter Murray-Rust
The scientist’s view
JISC Libraries of the future debate, April 2009

21. “…contact with librarians and
information professionals is
rare”
“…researchers are generally
confident in their [selftaught] abilities.., librarians
see them as..relatively
unsophisticated”
“…librarians see it as a
problem that they are not
reaching all researchers
with formal training,
whereas most researchers
don’t think they need it”

22. “The bad news is that I’m not sure they
understand what goes on in the library other
than taking out books.”
Benton Foundation, 1996
“User perceptions negatively affect the ability of
librarians to meet information needs simply
because a profession cannot serve those who
do not understand its purpose and expertise.”
Durrance, 1988

23. • Within five years, graduate students and faculty will fill all
their information needs online, never coming into the library
• Libraries will open up their space to other areas of the
university, and develop designer spaces for students
• All library collections and services will be delivered from the
cloud, and 90% of information needs will be met by nonLibrary providers
http://taigaforumprovocativestatements.blogspot.com/

24. The transformed library of the future will be at the core of
teaching, learning and scholarship
•
partnering with academic departments to create learning activities and
environments
•
helping to build an infrastructure for learning
•
creating an intellectual commons for the community
Guskin (2004) Project on the Future of Higher Education

26. Demands for our core skills
Data services
Digital research
Open scholarship
Evidence-based medicine
Knowledge-based professions
26

30. Collection-centric - 1st generation

31. Client-focused - 2nd generation

32. Experience-centered - 3rd generation

33. Connected Learning Experiences - 4th generation

34. Current priorities in
academic libraries
1. Continue and complete migration from print
to electronic and realign service operations
2. Retire legacy collections
3. Continue to repurpose library as primary
learning space
4. Reposition library expertise and resources to
be more closely embedded in research and
teaching enterprise outside library
5. Extend focus of collection development from
external purchase to local curation
Lewis (2007); Webster (2010)

35. Barriers to implementation
Hybrid environment
Faculty (and librarian?) resistance
Costs of space redevelopment
Library staff training
Faculty reception
Institutional acceptance of repository
services

36. •
•
•
•
•
In the print library
Local access costs low saved time allowed for
research productivity
Library costs high acquisitions, maintenance,
curation, buildings
Correspondence between
library reputation and
research quality
Great libraries attracted
great scholars
Great scholars attracted
great funding

37. Research publication is essential to
future research
Technology reduces costs of
production and distribution
Demand from academy is for
online content
Almost all new content born digital
Large swathe of scholarly print
material now digitised

38. What might this mean?
Ongoing acquisitions will require increasingly less
space
Substantial parts of existing collections can be
relocated off-site and replaced with digital
versions
As services like Google books mature this will
accelerate (subject to statutory provisions)
This will provide new space opportunities for
universities and their libraries

39. What’s involved in storing books?
Open shelves in libraries
Accessible, but expensive centre of campus real
estate
Highly compact off-site configurations
Low storage costs, better preservation but high
access costs
Very different to electronic storage!
Courant and Nielsen (2009) On the Cost of Keeping a Book

40. Storage costs for pbooks
Estimated over time to exceed purchase
price on average by 50 percent (Lawrence
et al, 2001)
Grow over time as acquisitions continue
Require either more storage, more discards
or more efficient storage

41. Indicative costs
Open stack
Warehouse
10 year open
then WHS
20 year open
then WHS
141.89
28.77
50.98
66.43

42. Compare with ebooks
HathiTrust will archive and backup an ebook
at $0.15-$0.40 per annum (using same
discount rates as for print books that
equates to $5-$13)

43. Use of print collections
Pittsburgh study
1979
Cornell study
2010
40% of collection never circulates
55% of books purchased since
1990 never borrowed
If a book isn’t borrowed during
first 6 years, only 2% chance it
will ever be used
13%
Average
circulation from
open shelf
collections
65% of books purchased in 2001
hadn’t been borrowed
1%
Average
circulation from
high density
collections
~0%
Average
circulation from
off-site storage

44. Moving forward
Ruthless move towards digital only acquisitions policy, relocation to storage,
collaborative retention, disposal
Lobbying publishers and aggregators for
better ebook terms
Securing campus buy-in

45. Accelerate the reduction and removal of
routine transactions
- Increase use of web-based activity
- Increase use of self-service
- Close labour-intensive low volume services
Prefer digital form at all times
Patron-driven acquisition as supplement
Better discovery services - eg Summon

47. Identify opportunities to leverage
economies of scale
- Buy publishers’ bundles to reduce need for
selection decisions
- Consolidate distributed collections,
warehousing or disposing of obsolete
material
- Consolidate and multi-purpose service
points

48. Library redevelopment
Lots of success stories
Understand need for different spaces on
your campus - do good research

49. Intentions
Activities
Achievements

50. What did you do in the Library?
Use a computer
Quiet study
Meet friends
Group work
Find course materials
Think
Coffee
Borrow books

51. Library redevelopment
Lots of success stories
Understand need for different spaces on
your campus - do good research
Showcase good examples (e.g. Hunt Library,
UQ)

55. The role of librarians
Current state
Future state
Many libraries retain large numbers
of librarians to catalogue and count
Librarians embedded in research and
teaching activities
Even more librarians wait at service
desks ‘just in case’
Librarians become campus specialists
in areas such as e-science, academic
technology and research evaluation
Few librarians leave the library
building
Librarians have meaningful impact
Current barriers
Many librarians lack skills and useful qualifications
Many librarians are resistant to change
Academics do not believe librarians are useful or credible
partners

62. W(h)ither the Library?
Local
distribution
1990s
Global digital
2000s
Cloud-based
models
2010s
Convergent media services