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A Survey on Academic Libraries as Centers for the Advancement of Technology

What Role do Librarians Play in Support of Technological Innovation?

By IGI Global on Nov 5, 2015
Participate in IGI Global's Technology Innovation Survey! Today, more than ever, innovation is necessary to fuel the economy. It is clear that advancements in technology specifically carry the most opportunity to flourish in this ever-changing global economic landscape. From mobile technology breakthroughs to cyber theft, information science and technology issues are a central topic in public conversation. Policymakers, economists, and other experts agree that in order to assure long-term economic growth, advancements in technology must continue throughout the coming years.

IGI Global and our librarian advisory board seek to understand how college and university libraries can support technological innovation. The aim of this survey is to determine the current and future role of libraries in supporting technological innovation in their own academic communities. Shared with librarians worldwide, the questions posed in this survey will gather information on today's library's current and future plans to support technology advancements and innovation within the academic community.

The Results



Download the video here

The study surveyed just over 200 librarians from 19 different countries—33% head librarians, 21% subject librarians and a diverse mixture of other knowledge management positions. About 53% of respondents were from public universities and 19% from private institutions.

The findings reveal that supporting technology-related projects is a very high priority for librarians, however they find it difficult due to lack of staff and resources to keep their institution up to date on technology innovation goals. These issues are causing libraries to fall behind with current technology research and support. One participant commented, “Library resources are absolutely necessary to support research and innovation.”

The key findings from the survey are as follows:

  • To currently support library technological innovations, over half of the surveyed libraries are acquiring books/e-books, loan technology components, acquiring journals/e-journals, labs for instruction or collaboration, instruction on programming/coding and facilities reflection.
  • Technology advancement programs libraries currently offer include: technology related classes, learning communities, technology fairs, webinars/seminars, collaborative visualization space, and blogs.
  • The majority of technology-orientated projects that exist at the instruction are student projects/research and faculty research, whereas the majority of funding for these types of projects comes from the institution.
  • Over 80% of librarians wish they had more technology-related development and training available such as conferences and in person or online courses to continue to stay ahead.
  • The emerging trends related to technology innovation in academic libraries include maker space, collaborating with faculty on digital projects, technology-rich teaching and learning spaces, as well as programming and coding.
  • To support technology innovation 74% of librarians are acquiring more e-books, 63% are acquiring e-journals, and 80% are investing in databases.
Conclusion

College and university libraries currently support technological innovation and hope to play a much larger role in the future. As one survey respondent shared: ”If libraries don’t lead in supporting technology innovation, someone else will. This is an area that we can make a real difference.”

IGI Global wishes to thank our wonderful library advisory board and everyone who took the time to participate in the survey.

View the survey infographic on the web!

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Database TechnologiesEducationKnowledge ManagementLibrary and Information ScienceDigital LibrariesElectronic ServicesHuman Aspects of TechnologyInformation Resources ManagementInformation RetrievalInteractive TechnologiesInternet TechnologiesKnowledge DiscoveryKnowledge SocietyLibrary Information SystemsMultimedia TechnologyBooks & E-BooksJournalsPresentationsLibrary Technology Innovation SeriesNorth AmericaAuthor NewsResources for DistributorsResources for InstructorsResources for LibrariansResources for Researchers

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Reply
Joe, thank you for sharing!
Ann Lupold8 years ago
Reply
Made a pdf out of this and put it up on slideshare - it seems like an easier format to refer to. http://www.slideshare.net/josephmontibello/igi-survey-library-technology-innovation-survey
Joe Montibello8 years ago
Reply
It's good that this survey was done. Are the full results available online? It would be more useful if we could see the responses.
Joe Montibello8 years ago

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