LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche – Association of European Research Libraries) just publicised a draft vision statement with 6 elements. I found them a bit of a disappointment, in particular after posting about the IFLA themes for libraries yesterday, which can be applied to research libraries as much as any other kind of library. There is a connection with some of the IFLA themes, but is seems rather dampened-down in scope.
One obvious thing is the lack of reference to the research librarians' role in developing the information literacy of all the stakeholders (staff, students, researchers), which one would expect to get a mention, given that most research libraries are actually part of universities. Instead there seems to be a big focus on the curatorial and publication roles, with more emphasis on support than leadership. In relation to the first element (see below) one statement is "The research library should not be seen as a facility but as a service provider" - I know this acknowledges that some universities do undervalue their libararies, but I would think that a research library could be more ambitious than being a "service provider" alone, considering the potential for expertise and leadership within library staff.
Anyway, the six elements are:
"1. Trusted Hub: By 2027, research libraries will be trusted hubs in their user communities, collaborating with each other and with local, national, and international stakeholders, in their role as change agents and facilitators.
"2. State-of-the-Art Services: By 2027, research libraries will provide forward-looking, state-of-the-art services regarding collections, publishing, and curation of information and metadata. These services are relevant and tailor-made for user groups inside and outside academia.
"3. Shaping Open Science: By 2027, in collaboration with researchers, research libraries will stimulate, facilitate, co-develop, and manage Open Science infrastructures and practices.
"4. Upholding Rights & Values: By 2027, research libraries are to uphold public and academic values inside and outside of the research community.
"5. Space for Dialogue: By 2027, research libraries function as an inclusive and inspirational physical and virtual space, enabling interaction between individuals and facilitating dialogue.
"6. Open to Society: By 2027, research libraries play key roles in opening up science to society by taking up public engagement tasks within the field of science." https://libereurope.eu/article/outcomes-of-the-knowledge-cafe-at-liber-2021-annual-conference/
1 comment:
Couldn't agree more that this sounds like a big step backwards. I still remember many years ago at UCLA when a Vice-Provost held a big kickoff lunch for all of those even tangentially involved in the new 3-Quarter-long Freshman Cluster Program, which later received at least one award for innovation and effectiveness. Well, the Vice-Provost introduced all of the faculty and TAs for each Cluster course. Finally, she introduced the librarians together with the janitorial staff, as service support. That was quite disappointing. About 10 years after that, though, I almost fell off my chair when I received a message from that same Vice-Provost's Administrative Assistant, asking me to contribute a brief essay regarding information literacy to UCLA's re-accreditation packet. IL was lumped in with IT, but at least there was some recognition of its value. I'm guessing it helped that a number of Cluster students mentioned the value of ILI in their course evaluations, especially since there weren't any questions in the evaluation form about IL. So, from a personal and historical point of view, it's sad to see this backwards move...
Esther Grassian
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