07UpdateReview

Library + Information Update 2007 (12) p.10

Review of the Year in Academic Libraries

By Derek Law

The last year in universities has been dominated by preparations for the RAE, ranging from identifying the competition to finding specific DOI’s for our bibliographically challenged academic colleagues. The next year looks as though it will be dominated by the arguments over its metrics based successor. The proposed use of a simple bibliometrics tool, based on concepts such as impact factors suggests a depressing lack of familiarity with developments in research on metrics. The whole area of web metrics has been boosted by the steady progress of the Open Access movement in general and the institutional repository movement in particular. Although the impact of mandates has yet to be fully felt, the ferocious counter-attacks by publishers, for example at European Union meetings, suggest that the pressure is beginning to tell.

Indeed there may be a depressing lack of familiarity with research in the profession at large. One of the most welcome events of the last year was a memorial seminar for Brian Perry, one-time head of the British Library’s Research and Development Department, the professions own mini research Council, before the money was “re-purposed” by the little loved and happily short-lived Re:Source. The seminar has led to a proposal for a new research agenda supported by all the major stakeholders. But this perhaps begs the question of whether research conducted by academic researchers is relevant to professional practice and, if it is, is anybody listening? Conversely how much of the large body of practice-based research simply duplicates work by other practitioners? It is not at all clear that we have a coherent professional understanding of the nature of, purpose of and desirable areas for research.

One such area is new buildings. It is astonishing to discover the literally tens of millions of pounds being spent on this, with little debate on new buildings, at a time when there is serious academic debate over the needs of the net generation and Prensky’s argument for digital natives. Of course some of the libraries being built are little more than sophisticated student union buildings rather than libraries in the classic sense, others are meant to store great historic collections of paper, but are we making the correct investment decisions in terms of bricks over content?

And then there’s CILIP itself. The Governance Review has been presented and accepted. Now the implementation is in train. Will it REALLY make a difference – or will it just reinforce the present state of things. Maybe 2008 will tell!