Executive Summary

Executive Summary

Project Overview

Funded by the USC Libraries Research Grant, the project aims to learn more about digital library (DL) operations at selected Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance (PRRLA) libraries in four areas: organizational structure, funding model, collection development practice, and challenges and opportunities. In particular, the project seeks to address the following research questions:

· What is the DL operation, structure, and portfolio at these libraries in current evolving DL landscapes?

· What are the opportunities, strategic value, as well as barriers and challenges of DL perceived by the leaders of these libraries?

· How can PRRLA best advance its mission of facilitating collaborations, generating synergies, and promoting innovations in the realm of DL?

Methodology

This study adheres to a mixed-method design. Quantitative measures include data such as the size of DL collections and the number of members in each DL team. Qualitative data include how DL managers describe the key challenges, opportunities, and trends in the field.

To initiate the research, the research director emailed the managers of DLs at 13 U.S. and Canadian libraries belonging to PRRLA, inviting them to participate in the study. Six agreed and submitted to video interviews, sometimes bringing support staff. To prepare for the exchanges, we researched the libraries and DL collection from their websites and developed an interview script. Each interview led to a transcript, on which the research director performed content analysis to identify common themes.

A project website is set up as a channel to share with participants and potential audiences the progress and outcomes of the project. The website consists of the following components: an overview of the project, an announcements section with updates, a project plan section, a list of PRRLA libraries in Canada and the U.S., and a bibliography of literature consulted in this research.

Key Insights

Demographics

The six participating libraries come from 5 public institutions and 1 private institution. The universities vary greatly in size, stretching from 8,847 students to 66,747 students, with an average enrollment of 40,627. Likewise, the number of digital collections differs widely, from as few as 15 collections to as many as 225, with 93 collections on average. All the DL managers have many years of experience working with DLs, ranging from 8 to 18 years and averaging 14 years in the field.

Organizational Structure

In terms of organizational hierarchy, DL programs are situated at the department level in the library’s organizational chart, similar to other functional departments, such as Special Collections and Cataloging. The department is under either an Associate Dean or Associate University Librarian, who in turn reports directly to the Library Dean or University Librarian. The title of the manager of the DL unit includes a qualifier word such as Head or Director.

As for the size of the DL department, on average there are 11 full-time employees (FTE) with a range from 4.5 to 20 FTE. In addition to managing library’s DL program and systems, some DL departments also oversee the library’s institutional repository, research data curation, scholarly communications, and copyright services.

Funding Model

Across the board, the six surveyed libraries rely primarily on their parent organization’s financial sources, supplemented by external grants, contracts, and donations. They work closely with their development office and grant administrator in acquiring external funding.

Collection Development

The libraries take an ad hoc approach to collection development. Most have no collection plan (CDP) specific to the DL. Libraries with CDPs follow guidelines similar to Special Collections, asking whether a proposed collection would align with faculty research or demonstrate unique cultural or historical value. The libraries have diverse models of decision making, with two using committees, two having no formal process, one using an internal team, and one relying on a dean’s review. While the libraries consider elements such as institutional value and usage rights, the deciding factor is funding.

Challenges and Opportunities

The main challenge for the surveyed DLs is achieving sustainability, an effort that includes not only addressing chronic financial shortfalls but also tackling digital preservation and improving staff retention. Many of the libraries hire contract workers to fulfill specific projects; when they leave, significant knowledge of collections and technology goes with them.

As an added difficulty, DL managers can struggle to balance the interests of funding organizations with those of their parent institution. Often, collections that attract grant funding do not align powerfully with the core mission of the university.

Despite challenges, the surveyed DL managers remain sanguine about their work. They express pride in improving public access to important digital resources, and increasingly they engage in post-custodial arrangements to bring resources online without seeking to own them. To boost contributions to institutional repositories, librarians are meeting sooner with faculty and collaborating as early as the planning phase of research. Amid these positive changes, one opportunity with room for growth is PRRLA’s own digital library, the Pacific Rim Library. Due partly to technical problems with harvesting, just 30% of PRRLA libraries have contributed collections to this union catalog.

Conclusion

Diverse and Evolving

After two decades of development, DLs have transformed from monolithic, technology- and data-centric operations to more open, outward-facing, user- and service-oriented endeavors. They continue to evolve in this rapidly changing digital landscape, both proactively and reactively.

Common Themes

Several themes emerge from our data analysis. Sustainability is a major concern among the participants we talked to. To continue to prosper and grow, DL programs require continuous investment in their operations, technology infrastructure, staff training and professional development. Further, no single DL model fits all. The organizational arrangement, funding model, collection develop practices, and workflows of these DL programs might look similar on the surface. When delving deeper, we notice a wide range of variation and degrees of nuance. Finally, DL programs are building long-lasting relationships and actively engaging with their stakeholders in content acquisition, research collaboration, grant applications, and promoting the use of their rich and diverse collections.

We are grateful for funding support from USC Libraries Dean Quinlan, facilitation from William Dotson, Director of Grants & Research Communications, Gretchen Lee, Senior Finance and Accounting Manager, and her team, Charles Britton-Eisman, Senior Human Resources Business Partner, and USC Libraries’ Research Grand Committee. Without their support and guidance, we would not be able to get the project started. Most importantly, we are indebted to participants from the six PRRLA libraries. The opportunity to explore the DL programs at those libraries in detail and to interview the leaders and experts in the field allows us to acquire deep understanding and appreciation of the hard work and dedication by DL colleagues, the commitment and enthusiasm of DL professionals in making unique, diverse, multi-faceted collections available to the public, and the trends and movements of this exciting and evolving field.

[1] The Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance (PRRLA) was formed in 1997 by 14 academic libraries with a focus on fostering a “cooperative venture among academic libraries located around the Pacific Rim to improve access to scholarly research materials.” (PRRLA, 2018. https://pr-rla.org/organization/).