Redefining the Academic Library Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services

Academic libraries are faced with a daunting series of challenges brought on by the digital revolution. In an era when millions of books, articles, images, and videos available instantaneously via the web, libraries across all institutional types are experiencing declining demand for their traditional services, built around the storage and dissemination of physical resources. At the same time, new demand for digital information services and collaborative learning spaces promise new areas of opportunity and engagement with patrons. A rapid and orderly transition to “the library of the future” requires difficult trade-offs, however, as no institution can afford to continue expanding both its commitment to comprehensive, local print collections as well as new investments in staff, technology, and renovations. This report illustrates how progressive academic libraries are evolving in response to these challenges, providing case studies and best practices in managing library space, staff, and resources.

Giving Thanks

Indulge me for a few moments, will you? I write this column just as we approach the Thanksgiving. You will read it having spent the last few weeks recovering from the Christmas Holidays. It seems appropriate at this time, even conventional, to spend a few moments looking at what we all have to be thankful for, even joyous about. All too often the quotidian cares of life weigh us down unceremoniously, and we forget that we have much to be thankful for.