An Analysis of Academic Libraries’ Participation in 21st Century Library Trends

Abstract

Abstract
 Objective – As academic libraries evolve to meet the changing needs of students in the digital age, the emphasis has shifted from the physical book collection to a suite of services incorporating innovations in teaching, technology, and social media, among others. Based on trends identified by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and other sources, the authors investigated the extent to which academic libraries have adopted 21st century library trends.
 Methods – The authors examined the websites of 100 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries, their branches, and 160 randomly selected academic libraries to determine whether they adopted selected 21st century library trends.
 Results – Results indicated that ARL member libraries were significantly more likely to adopt these trends, quite possibly due to their larger size and larger budgets.
 Conclusion – This research can assist librarians, library directors, and other stakeholders in making the case for the adoption or avoidance of particular 21st century library trends, especially where considerable outlay of funds is necessary.

Readiness of academic libraries in South Africa to research, teaching and learning support in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

“…The transformed roles, innovative services and future of academic libraries have been the focus of attention by many researchers around the world (Catalano et al , 2018; Cox et al , 2019; Dempsey and Malpas, 2018; Feret, 2018; Schulte et al , 2018; Sewell and Kingsley, 2017) and in South Africa (Chiware and Becker, 2018b; Hodonu-Wusu and Lazarus, 2018; Kwanya and Stilwell, 2018; Moll and Moll-Willard, 2019; Ocholla et al , 2016; Ocholla and Ocholla, 2017; Onyancha, 2018; Raju et al , 2018; Wilson et al , 2019). The result has been the creation of new library spaces and services, which are suitable for the needs and orientation of individual institutions (Dempsey and Malpas, 2018); (Ocholla et al , 2016), in response to the rapidly changing landscape of higher education, influenced by a strong research, teaching and learning agenda; ICTs; university ranking; community engagement (for contextualizing research and teaching) and the 4IR, all of which demand that library services be accessible anytime, and anywhere.…”

“…A desk research by content analysis of websites of 26 university libraries in South Africa was conducted by using public universities’ data from the Department of Higher Education and Training's (DHET, 2018). We note a similar approach used in a related study (Catalano et al , 2018) that examined the websites of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and nonARL academic libraries in USA. It was observed that the two newly opened universities (Sol Plaatje University (SPU) and Sefako Makgatho University (SMU)) do not have detailed information on their websites about their libraries, which is understandable due to their recent establishment in the country.…”

“…The study of Catalano et al (2018) focused on eight trends, namely “research data services (RDS), digital scholarship (including institutional repository), makerspace, emerging staff positions, open educational resources, distance learner services, non–traditional reference services and use of social media”. We did not capture application of Google analytics and other related trends/applications – for information use and seeking analysis often with metrics – by most libraries.…”

21st Century Innovations: Librarians, Trend-Watching, and the Warning Signs of Fads

“…Born from a DIY culture (Davis, 2018), makerspaces have been adopted in all types of libraries. Although location and staffing vary, 39% (n = 39) of ARL libraries and 11% of non-ARL libraries (n = 18) offer these services (Catalano et al, 2018). Johnson (2018) describes the incorporation of…”

“…A 2018 analysis based on trends identified by the Association of College and Research Libraries detailed to what extent academic libraries have adopted 21st century library trends (Catalano et al, 2018). The authors found that as academic libraries have evolved to meet the changing needs of learners in the digital age, the spotlight is now focused on innovations in teaching, technology, and social media.…”