Schedule for Spring 2013 Membership Meeting

Discussions will include the status of fund raising for the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce and preparations for next iteration of scholarship competition; preparations for the next offering of the National Diversity in Libraries Conference (NDLC); and meeting with Elliott Shore to discuss diversity and leadership programs and preparations for next strategic planning process.

Discussion topics will include the Working Group’s contributions to ARL’s work in response to an expanded commitment to public access to federally funded scientific research in the US. The Working Group will hear and discuss preliminary findings from a new SPEC Survey on Research Data Management Services, and consider what support we can provide to Deans and Directors to leverage the E-Science Institute teams’ work and structure in advancing campus conversations. The Working Group will also continue planning and agenda-setting for its own expanded mandate to include the digital humanities and e-social sciences.

The meeting will include a discussion of the revised ARL annual statistical surveys and a review of the needs assessment regarding future data collection about the value of library facilities.

The Regional Federal Depository Libraries Working Group will focus on new opportunities for the FDLP with a focus on identifying new measures to add flexibility to the management of collections and participation in the Program by regional depository libraries.

Discussion topics will include findings from six cases studies of special collections and mission alignment, drawn from the ARL membership, as well as eight case studies of sustainable digitized special collections drawn from the wider library and museum community in collaboration with Ithaka S+R. The Working Group will also discuss two recent internationally-focused reports with potential bearing on North American special collections: “Survey of Special Collections and Archives in the UK and Ireland” (OCLC Research), and “The Global Dimensions of Scholarship and Research Libraries: A Focus on the Future” (Center for Research Libraries). The group will also hear an update on the Andrew W. Mellon-funded ArchivesSpace project.

The committee will discuss the White House memorandum on increasing access to the results of federally funded research, new strategies for dissemination of research institution scholarship, research libraries and university presses, and potential program opportunities for the fall meeting.

The Influencing Public Policies Steering Committee and the Fair Use and Related Exemptions Working Group will focus on identifying ARL activities and initiatives concerning the recently released White House Memorandum on “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” ARL is collaborating with AAU and APLU on community responses to the Memorandum. In addition, there will be updates and discussion concerning several legal challenges: HathiTrust, Georgia State University and the recent US Supreme Court decision concerning the First Sale Doctrine. Finally, there will be an update on Canadian copyright and public policies initiatives.

In 2013, TRL is focused on transformative services in research libraries. The Steering Committee will discuss new service implications of the expanded public access directive for federally funded research in the US; and the service and partnership opportunities presented by the rise of MOOCs. In ongoing to the next-generation workforce, the Committee will address next steps in presenting a workforce framework to the research library community aligned with future directions in higher education. TRL’s two working groups—Transforming Special Collections in the Digital Age and E-Research—will also report to the Steering Committee, and the Committee will hear an update from the newly established joint Working Group with Public Policies on Accessibility and Universal Design.

Ann Pendelton-Jullian is an architect, designer, and educator who collaborates closely with John Seely Brown on ways to re-imagine the design of higher education. She proposes the value of developing “a sustainable educational environment that is a space of pervasive innovation.” Elliott Shore will begin the session with a brief reflection on his spring semester listening tour. Ann will talk about the work she has been doing re-imagining the university for 2033 with specific focus on her insights about the research library. Elliott will interview Ann and engage the members in discussion.

Preservation of digital content for research and scholarship is a huge concern for academic libraries. The Academic Preservation Trust (APTrust) consortium is tackling the problem through the creation and management of a preservation repository that will aggregate content from many institutions, and serve as a replicating node for the Digital Preservation Network (DPN). A panel of consortium members will highlight the benefits of the APTrust, and discuss near-term and longer-term goals. The panel seeks to engage the audience in discussion about challenges that should be addressed as the project develops.

The convergence of digital technologies with humanistic inquiry requires fresh collaborations and new sets of research and pedagogical practices in order to advance understanding of the human condition. How can libraries, as centers of research and learning, help advance the “digital humanities”? The panelists—a scholar and a program funder—will share their perspectives to prompt discussion of the roles that libraries need to play.

Jamie Boyle joins the ARL membership for a discussion about public policy issues that higher education and research libraries should pay attention to in the next few years and beyond. What issues will impact research libraries the most? Where can research libraries have the most impact? Jamie will touch upon these questions and more.

ARL and the University of Florida launched the Position Description Bank in February in response to an identified need for research libraries to easily share job descriptions with one another. This searchable database provides access to a collection of position descriptions and supports long-term archiving. A short demonstration of the database will highlight the goals of this project and its value to the ongoing evolution of staffing in libraries.

This study surveyed parents and alumni—not library users—to understand their beliefs about the campus experience, and how these beliefs influence their perceptions of the university and the role of the library. The study explored survey respondents’ perceptions and memories of the academic experience and discovered what they value for themselves or for their children. Then the study looked at how the library “stacks up” against other elements of campus life, and what this means for libraries and universities as they move to mixed models of physical and virtual learning spaces.

In December 2012 an invitational forum was held at Duke University, with support from the Mellon Foundation. The goal was to bring an international focus to conversations regarding the future of research libraries and to consider how the mission to collect, preserve, and provide access for scholars to a wide array of materials created and published around the world can be achieved in the current environment. This presentation is a first step to fulfill the goals of disseminating the recommendations that emerged from the forum and seeking feedback from a variety of organizations, individuals, and groups.

ARL libraries are engaging in purposeful, focused change to reshape operations and services. They are doing less with less process. What are libraries giving up in order to do new things? How are decisions being made to make these transitions? Disruptive innovation and risk taking has many forms. Hugh O’Neill will provide a context for this from the business perspective. Within the framing of this context, examples of changes in two ARL libraries will be highlighted along with the results of the changes, and the impact they are having on the organization. Hugh will then facilitate a discussion about the case studies.