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JISC 2008 Survey of Head and Senior Librarians
The results from the JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) annual survey of head and senior academic librarians in the UK was published on Thursday, indicating that the management of e-resources is perceived as the main challenge over the next several years. Read the entire JISC Attitudinal Survey 2008: Head and Senior Learning and Librarian Staff here.
“The research, supported by SCONUL3, found that in both the higher (HE) and further education (FE) sectors, the perceived shift away from print to a dependence on e-resources creates other challenges such as how to manage the volume of material, how users can access it and how libraries and learning resource centres (LRC) can provide or promote such resources. It also highlights financial issues such as potential funding sources for the increasing amounts of new technology, electronic materials and subscriptions likely to be needed by the learning institutions of the future.”
Other Key Findings:
- The SCONUL Top Concerns survey highlighted access management as a key issue among this audience. Encouragingly, the JISC survey shows the proportion feeling informed about access management issues has increased significantly since 2007 along with awareness and knowledge of JISC activity in this area and the UK Access Management Federation
- 61% of HE and 43% of FE libraries/LRCs report having digitised their own collections but relatively few currently have a digitisation strategy in place. A quarter of HEIs are planning to put one in place compared with one in ten in FE
- Around one in four HE libraries have collaborated with one another on jointly procuring collections, and a further 12% jointly digitising their collections
- Around one third agreed that academic libraries/LRCs could use social networking opportunities to engage students with their services but most were unsure especially in HE
