Institutions

Never mind the quality, feel the width

Lorcan 1 min read

flight.jpgWhat should an excellent research library look like in 2015? Indeed, what would it mean to be a ‘top 20’ research library. The answer is not straightforward, but it is something that one library has been asked to think about.
The University of Manchester is a new creation, built from the predecessor institutions Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. I recently heard Bill Simpson, Director of the John Rylands University Library, speak about how they went about bringing together the libraries of these institutions [ppt].
The University climbed from 78 to 53 on the Shanghai Jiao Tong 2005 ranking of universities following this change. Manchester has declared a strategic goal of being a top 20 university by 2015.
This poses an interesting question for the library. What does it mean to be an excellent research library in 2015? This is a specific question, couched in terms set by the University. However, it nicely poses a critical question for all research libraries as their services, and the requirements placed on them by users, change. As it becomes increasingly unrealistic to measure the quality of a library by the size of its stock, so does it become more interesting to ask what metrics are useful. And once one asks that, then one is asking what is a research library.
Image via library website.

Share
Comments
More from LorcanDempsey.net
So-called soft skills are hard
Institutions

So-called soft skills are hard

So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.
Lorcan 12 min read
The technology career ladder
Institutions

The technology career ladder

Library leaders should be drawn from across the organization. Any idea that technology leaders are overly specialised or too distant from general library work is outmoded and counter-productive.
Lorcan 7 min read
icon

Lorcan Dempsey dot Net

The social, cultural and technological contexts of libraries, services and networks

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to LorcanDempsey.net.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.