Two New Spec Kits from Association for Research Libraries Published
Online in the past few days. Exec summaries only! Full text is fee based:
+ Managing Digitization Activities, SPEC Kit 294
This SPEC survey was designed to identify the purposes of ARL member libraries’ digitization efforts, the organizational structures these libraries use to manage digital initiatives, whether and how staff have been reassigned to support digitization activities, where funding to sustain digital activities originated and how that funding is allocated, how priorities are determined, whether libraries are outsourcing any digitization work, and how the success of libraries’ digital activities has been assessed. The focus of the survey was on the digitization of existing library materials, rather than the creation of born-digital objects. Direct to exec summary (PDF)
Libraries are undergoing profound transformations as digital networked resources alter how library users interact with library staff, collections, and spaces. ARL member libraries are responding to changing use patterns and pedagogical trends by creating more spaces for digital resource access, group studies, media laboratories, and technology-based learning spaces. This transformation requires more library space, usually in a location central to campus. As library collections continue to grow, administrators are faced with the choice of trying to create new central library spaces to accommodate growing collections and new services or developing other alternatives for housing lesser-used materials. More and more, the development of remote shelving facilities is a response to these space pressures.
Remote shelving facilities have been a strategy for ARL member libraries for a long time and a number of SPEC surveys have been conducted to document design, selection of materials, costs, and services. Building upon this work, this SPEC survey focused on user services and how they have changed since the last survey in 1998 that was published in May 1999 in SPEC Kit 242 Library Storage Facilities, Management, and Services.
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