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Challenging the Academy
May 2010
Content of Current Issue
Class Warriors
William Ayers
Professor William Ayers, banned last year from speaking at the University of Nebraska, argues that the current trend towards “academic capitalism” gives faculty the moment to speak up – and act up. MORE>
Higher Education or Education for Hire? Corporatization and the Threat to Democratic Thinking
Joel Westheimer
Teaching critical thinking is the university’s democratic mission, argues the University of Ottawa’s Joel Westheimer, and today’s universities are failing to deliver. Universities need to reverse the trend that has them focusing on workforce preparation and the commercialization of knowledge and resurrect higher education’s public purpose.  MORE>
The University: Punctuated by Paradox
Simon Marginson
Old/new, engaged/separate, public/private, elite/mass-oriented, national/global. But for universities, Simon Marginson argues, paradox is vital.  MORE>
The Queer Agenda on Campus: Invisible? Stalled? Incomplete?
David Rayside
For universities to become truly inclusive, sexual orientation and gender identity have to be fully incorporated into the employment equity agenda, argues the University of Toronto’s David Rayside. MORE>
Acting Out of Character in the Immortal Profession: Toward a Free Trait Agreement
Brian R. Little
Sometimes, the academic life demands that faculty deny their fundamental personality traits. But if collegial respect includes allowing colleagues the latitude to nurture their true characters, academics can survive and thrive amidst the challenges of academic life. MORE>
An Academic Life: Peter Dale Scott
David MacGregor
 MORE>
Humour Matters – Sabbatical Time
Steve Penfold
In an odd and unpredictable way, the Olympics saved my first sabbatical. I mean, I had great plans for my first sabbatical. No lectures to churn out, no essays to mark, no exams to set, no emails to return – just time to think, read, and write. But it wasn’t going to be all work. No sir. I figured it would be long lunches, real coffee breaks (you know, where you actually take a break!), walks in the afternoon, and even the occasional nap. Sabbatical would be like an adult version of daycare and, if anything went wrong, I could just go to the quiet area for a time out. MORE>
Editorial Matters – The road ahead
Mark Rosenfeld
A university cancels a public lecture by an outspoken academic due to political pressure. A job offer at a prestigious research institute is rescinded in response to the opposition of a large, corporate sponsor. Police arrest demonstrators at a debate on one the flashpoints of regional geo-politics. A decision with far-reaching academic implications is taken with only perfunctory reference to collegial governance. A university’s strategic plan uses the corporate sector as a model, with the aim of maximizing growth, marketability and profit. MORE>
Blogs
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More than bookends - University libraries and academic librarians
A Blog by Anne Fullerton, Amy Greenberg and Dan Scott

Communicating the Library's Value
by: Amy Greenberg
posted on: 5/21/2010
 
Academic libraries experience a curious dichotomy when it comes to marketing their services. On the one hand, members of a college or university community generally have positive feelings towards the idea of 'the library' even if they do not use it. On the other hand, many of the initiatives actually undertaken by campus libraries often go unnoticed even when the services offered as part of these initiatives are widely used (e-journals and online databases being prime examples of this).
 
In part this dichotomy is due to the prevalent idea that libraries are physical places with lots of books. While this is still true (so far), it means that many Web-based services offered by libraries are overlooked or taken for granted, especially as increasing numbers of libraries seek to make their content more 'discoverable' by exposing their web pages to search engine crawlers, and their journal content to Google Scholar.
 
Therefore it's unsurprising that a recent report co-authored by JISC and OCLC looking at twelve different studies of information seeking behaviour and library users, concluded unambiguously that  "the library must advertise its brand, its value, and its resources better within the community" .
 
Academic libraries are already trying new forms of marketing in addition to existing traditional methods such as distributing newsletters and bookmarks, and having librarians with expertise in certain subjects act as faculty liaisons. Many undergraduate programs, especially in specific disciplines like biology or education (to name two examples from the University of Toronto), incorporate library research into the coursework by having assignments which require students to come in to the library. To further awareness among the undergraduate population most, if not all, libraries have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

Another interesting initiative undertaken recently by several Ontario university libraries - such as  McMaster, Toronto, and Waterloo - is to hold an 'I love the library' video contest. This is a strategy that has been quite popular amongst public libraries, and perhaps reflects again the need for academic libraries to market their services to the student population.
 
No matter the methods used, libraries must continually measure their effectiveness in meeting the goals of promoting their brand, value, and services. This is where tools such as the LibQUAL survey come in to play. Earlier this year, CARL (Canadian Association of Research Libraries) member libraries ran the survey and are now analysing the results. While not a measure of marketing per se, LibQUAL does measure users' perception of library service, and so can be a valuable instrument in helping libraries determine where to focus their efforts. Most libraries dedicate a section of their website to the survey results - check to see if your library was a participant this year!
 
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Recent Posts
Communicating the Library's Value - 5/21/2010 by Amy Greenberg
Patron Driven Acquisitions is Here! - 1/14/2010 by Anne Fullerton
Teaching and librarianship - 5/12/2009 by Amy Greenberg
All About the Users - 3/6/2009 by Amy Greenberg
Learning about Open Access - 11/9/2008 by Anne Fullerton
Beginnings - 11/8/2008 by Amy Greenberg
About the Bloggers
 
 
About Anne Fullerton
Anne Fullerton Anne Fullerton is the Biology and Chemical Engineering Librarian at the Davis Library, University of Waterloo. Her research has focused on engineering and science faculty perceptions and practices of Information Literacy. Through her collaborations with faculty, Davis Library renovation plans emerged from engineering student design projects and new Biology graduate students learn scientific communication strategies. She holds a BSc (Queen’s), an MSc (Dalhousie) and an MLIS (UWO).
 
About Amy Greenberg
Amy Greenberg is a User Support Librarian for the Ontario Council of University Libraries’ (OCUL) Scholars Portal. Together with other team members, she is responsible for providing support and training to staff and students in Ontario universities who are using the RACER inter-library loans system, as well as other Scholars Portal services such as Ref-Works and SFX. Amy has a Master of Information Studies degree from the University of Toronto, and a B.Sc. in Biology from York University. Before working for OCUL she was a reference librarian at the University of Toronto OISE Education Library.
 
About Dan Scott
Dan is the Systems Librarian in the J.N. Desmarais Library at Laurentian University. He graduated from Laurentian in 1996 with a BA (English and Philosophy) and attained a Masters of Information Studies (MISt) from the University of Toronto in 1998 before joining IBM for eight years as a technical writer, software developer, information architect, and product planner. In 2006 he joined Laurentian University and has been heavily involved in open source software development efforts for libraries. You can contact him at dscott@laurentian.ca or read his personal blog at Coffee|Code.