Academic Libraries and Collaborative Research Services

Objective. Librarians’ responses to customer requests reflect their attitude. Encouraging positive attitudes among librarians is crucial for preparing institutions to reach their maximum potential in service delivery, particularly in research data services. Universities need academic library research data services to maintain data quality. These services help academic communities verify and maintain the quality of their data. Institutions, projects, and stakeholders determine the strategic value of data quality dimensions. This study aims to investigate research data services practiced by Indonesian academic librarians and to assess their attitudes, which are crucial for enhancing research data services and improving the quality of research data. Methods. Quantitative approach was used in this research. The sampling technique was purposive sampling. SEM-PLS and SmartPLS 3 were used for data analysis. This study focuses on academic librarians working in higher education institutions that are members of the Indonesian Higher Education Library Forum (FPPTI). Respondents were selected from libraries that provide research data services. Results. The results show that all constructs in the study were valid and reliable. The results emphasize the critical importance of research data services in the research model and the indirect effect of attitude on data quality through these services. Attitude has a significant impact on the research data service. However, the research data service has a more substantial impact on data quality. Conclusions. Fostering positive attitudes through training and supportive environments can improve service delivery and data quality. Strengthening research data services also enhances institutional credibility and academic outcomes.

Evaluation of Research Data Management (RDM) services in academic libraries of India: A triangulation approach

The emergence of data intensive science and the establishment of data management mandates have motivated academic libraries to develop research data services (RDS) for their faculty and students. Here the results of two studies are reported: librarians' RDS practices in U.S. and Canadian academic research libraries, and the RDS-related library policies in those or similar libraries. Results show that RDS are currently not frequently employed in libraries, but many services are in the planning stages. Technical RDS are less common than informational RDS, RDS are performed more often for faculty than for students, and more library directors believe they offer opportunities for staff to develop RDS-related skills than the percentage of librarians who perceive such opportunities to be available. Librarians need opportunities to learn more about these services either on campus or through attendance at workshops and professional conferences.

The study investigated veterinary medicine librarians' experience with and perceptions of research data services. Many academic libraries have begun to offer research data services in response to researchers' increased need for data management support. To date, such services have typically been generic, rather than discipline-specific, to appeal to a wide variety of researchers. An online survey was deployed to identify trends regarding research data services in veterinary medicine libraries. Participants were identified from a list of contacts from the MLA Veterinary Medical Libraries Section. Although many respondents indicated that they have a professional interest in research data services, the majority of veterinary medicine librarians only rarely or occasionally provide data management support as part of their regular job responsibilities. There was little consensus as to whether research data services should be core to a library's mission despite their perceived importance to the advancement of veterinary research. Furthermore, most respondents stated that research data services are just as or somewhat less important than the other services that they provide and feel only slightly or somewhat prepared to offer such services. Lacking a standard definition of "research data" and a common understanding of precisely what research data services encompass, it is difficult for veterinary medicine librarians and libraries to define and understand their roles in research data services. Nonetheless, they appear to have an interest in learning more about and providing research data services.

There is no doubt that there have been changes in recent years in academic libraries, their institutions, and the behaviors of their users. The literature in librarianship offers opinions and forecasts on a number of trends in services, resources, and personnel within libraries. Writings outside of librarianship also offer ideas about libraries and scholarship. The trends can be examined in the context of data reported by libraries. Data collected by the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics provide the opportunity for the analysis of a number of academic library service, collection and access, and personnel matters. Since the analysis can take into account changes over time, an integrated and holistic examination can be conducted. Introduction Occasionally, articles appear in the literature of librarianship (and sometimes higher education) that question academic libraries' being (see, for example, Campbell, 2006 and Wisner, 2001). Some of the points made can be valid; concern regarding the decline in reference transactions, for example, is not without foundation (this phenomenon will be discussed shortly). Such things as declines in reference questions asked and circulation can lead to concern about the place of academic libraries on their campuses. The concern is manifest in a number of ways and those ways might be located along a continuum. At one end of the continuum is evolution: those expressing concern in this way ponder the changes libraries undergo as a series of steps which, over time, can transform academic libraries (Abbott, 2008 and Martell, 2008). At the other end is revolution; those who see change as revolutionary may not want to proceed through stages, but leap to different states. Analysts must be careful to avoid overstating the locus of concern. That is, an individual may favor an evolutionary transformation for, say, the nature of a particular service, while simultaneously favoring a revolutionary transformation for the delivery of the service. Holding differing views regarding services and their operation is by no means inconsistent of necessity. Providing effective services in a specific college or university may require flexibility. There may be no virtue in adopting an absolutely evolutionary (or revolutionary) vision, and no vice in examining each element of the organization as it presently exists and could exist. The rhetoric of change that is frequently expressed in higher education writings (see Duderstadt and Womack, 2003, for instance) may be sometimes characterized by lack of rigorous examination. Claims about academic libraries' place (or absence of place) in the academy should be looked at closely. When the roles of colleges' and universities' libraries are discussed, one word tends to recur-transition. There has scarcely been a time since the middle of the twentieth century, though, when libraries have not been in transition. Fremont Rider's 1944 book, Scholarship and the Future of the Research Library, looks quaint now, but his central theme was not conceptually different from calls to provide all materials in digital media and not physical packages. Too often, perhaps, writings on academic libraries' present and future contributions to their institutions' missions are guided by opinion and selective glimpses of data. A more comprehensive examination is needed in order to understand the complex dynamics of libraries' activities within a transforming landscape of higher education. The present examination focuses on a large set of data on academic library operations, with the aim of discerning trends that could inform the ways we think about what libraries are and what they do. Since this aim is to provide benchmarks for trends (that can be used, along with other things, to envision the future), no hypotheses are stated. Recent Literature There has been speculation about causes for the decline in uses of such things as libraries' reference services. …

Big data-driven investigation into the maturity of library research data services (RDS)

The paper summarizes the experience in higher education institutions financing, substantiates the trends in their financial support models diversification. The study systematizes approaches to the organization of higher education institutions financing under market conditions and reveals their advantages and disadvantages in terms of the effects at the level of an individual and society as a whole. It defines tools and models of the financing under orientation on demand, supply and strategic purposes of the national development. The study proves the need to substantiate the rational balance of individual and social effects in higher education institutions financing, which can be achieved through a combination of market self-regulation and state regulation of the higher education services market. The system of methods was used in the study, namely: monographic – to define the research aim and conclusions, the method of theoretical generalization of foreign and domestic scientists was used to critically analyze the existing approaches to the organization of financing the work of agricultural education higher institutions. General scientific methods of cognition, such as analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, systemic integrated approach, were used to systematize the models of financial support for higher agricultural education institutions and to generalize the conclusions. The paper substantiated that the state should take leading positions in higher education institutions financing. The role of state funding in ensuring sustainable development of agricultural education higher institutions has been identified considering the specificity of educational services and their role in ensuring sustainable development of the agricultural sector of the economy and rural areas. It is argued that the current conditions of free economic development and challenges the institutions face requires focusing on consumer demand and adjusting their educational services through prompt updating the changing educational programs based on modern research, attracting a larger number of stakeholders in the financing model formation. The modern tendencies typical of the market of educational services determining the expansion of the participants of the organization of financing the higher education institutions activity, are considered. The importance of financing elements focused on the innovations development, the role of which will grow in the future, especially in the form of competitive and targeted financing is revealed. It is proved that the results-based approach to the organization of financing also reduces the risks of macroeconomic inefficiency and contributes to reducing the information asymmetry. The obligatory presence of the state in the organization of research funding in higher education institutions is justified due to the positive impact of research on educational services quality and increases their value for an individual and society. The paper considers options for market-oriented higher education financing and the state's demands in terms of the concept of management, public and private funding methods, the education fee. It is established that the changing conditions of the market of educational services require a revision of targets for state funding due to the following factors: increased number of foreign students, use of information and communication technologies, increase in the integration of higher education institutions nationally and internationally. Key words: higher education institution, higher agricultural education, concepts of higher education institution management, methods of free economic education financing, sources of higher education institutions financing.

Research data management services require new skills and collaboration among library staff to work with both researchers and end-users as they manage data going forward. However, there is an urgent need to increase awareness of the new trends about the partnership between research community and academic libraries, there is also a need for new research data management (RDM)-related skills among librarians. And therefore, this research aims at investigating requirements, roles and responsibilities as well as challenges of RDM services in academic libraries in Jordan. A questionnaire was developed and used to collect the required data from 21 academic libraries in Jordan. The results indicate high perception and awareness of libraries roles and responsibilities of RDM as well as requirements and challenges in academic libraries in Jordan to provide RDM services. It was noted that all factors such as job title, experience and library type had no effect on the results.

The transformation of Human Resources (HR) risk management in higher education is becoming increasingly crucial in facing the dynamics of changes in education policy in Indonesia. This study aims to analyze how higher education institutions implement an adaptive approach in managing HR risk in order to improve organizational effectiveness and institutional competitiveness. The research method used is qualitative with a case study approach and comparative analysis of several higher education institutions in Indonesia. The results of the study indicate that the success of HR risk management is highly dependent on policy flexibility, investment in improving the competence of educators, the implementation of a transparent evaluation system, and attention to the welfare of educators. Higher education institutions that implement an adaptive HR risk management model are proven to be better prepared in facing policy changes and are able to develop into more competitive educational institutions. Therefore, this study recommends the formulation of more flexible and data-based policies to improve the resilience and innovation of higher education institutions in Indonesia.

Students as Co-designers of a Virtual Learning Commons: Results of a Collaborative Action Research Study

As asynchronous learning becomes the norm throughout academia, changes are taking place in campus information systems. Academic libraries, as the entity responsible for serving the information needs of the university, have little choice but to change dramatically. In fact, academic libraries have a history of being aggressive in adapting state-of-the-art technologies. One can point to decades-long involvement with the development of online catalogs and the use of shared cataloging utilities. Libraries continue to serve academic teaching and learning by taking on new roles, revising traditional services, and time and space constraints.Libraries have, however, been slower to adjust organizational structures and processes to leverage the potential of technology. Replies to a recent survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) indicate that change in the responding libraries at this time is incremental rather than dramatic. Patterns are emerging, however, relative to resource reallocation and the formation of partnerships with other university units that reflect new priorities.This article describes two examples of innovative information delivery initiatives. VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, was proposed by the state’s Library Advisory Council in 1993 to encourage collaboration among the Commonwealth’s institutions of higher education and to support the electronic dissemination of information. Academic libraries are also leading the way by providing new and unique sources of online information such as Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), by developing electronic submissions, online archiving, and Web access, as well as bringing to the forefront discussions about issues such as copyright and publishers’ control of academic publications. Network-based access to information resources such as these is changing higher education, and the opportunities offered by asynchronous learning networks are challenging libraries to adjust their policies, processes, and services.

A Review of the Literature on Assessment in Academic and Research Libraries, 2005 to August 2011 Jon R. Hufford (bio) Introduction Assessment in United States higher education has become very important in recent years. Virtually all colleges and universities are now striving to prove through empirical evidence that they are committed to improving student learning. Created in late 2005, the US Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education was charged with the task of "developing a strategy for higher education to meet the needs of America's population and address the economic and workforce needs of the future."1 The Commission's final report, A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of United States Higher Education, makes several recommendations for reform and states in a summary that "improved accountability is vital to ensuring the success of all the other reforms we propose. Colleges and universities must become more transparent about cost, price, and student success outcomes, and must willingly share this information with students and families." Though the report was not an early wake-up call for assessment, since articles on the need and importance of assessment in higher education had been published in the literature before 2006,2 it was an important document on the topic from a political and administrative perspective and has had a significant impact on campuses across the nation. This is because, in response to the Commission's report, the regional accreditation organizations made changes in their standards, and these changes have been directly responsible for the trend toward assessment. As might be expected, some of the standards of several of these regional organizations relate to academic libraries and have changed the way they are assessed. This article reviews the literature on assessment in academic and research libraries that has been published since the Commission on the Future of Higher Education was created in 2005 and up until August 2011. Much has been written about assessment [End Page 5] over the years. The author felt that coverage of the literature of the most recent six years would include sources that would still be reasonably relevant for academic professionals in 2011. The author was also interested in providing an examination of the coverage since the Commission's report to disclose new developments, ideas, and directions in the assessment of academic and research libraries. Also, to offer a competent and manageable review of the literature, the article focuses on assessments concerned with the management or administration of libraries and their collections, public services, and issues or projects affecting more than one department within a library. Assessments in the acquisitions and technical services areas have been excluded. The author's goal was to treat the topic comprehensively. However, some sources were not considered significant enough to be included, and it is possible that other sources that perhaps should have been included were inadvertently left out. A representative selection of noteworthy older monographs and textbooks generally recognized for their contribution to academic and research library assessment has been included, along with a selection of publications on assessment in higher education that provides a more comprehensive perspective of the topic. Though the majority of the sources reviewed in this article were published in the United States and cover developments in the United States, some sources published in international or foreign publications that cover developments in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, or South Africa were included because they discuss developments similar to those taking place in American academic and research libraries and provide important insights into the topic. Assessment is often equated with evaluation. To education professionals, assessment occurs when a researcher wants to discover what a student knows or can do, while evaluation is used to determine the value of a course or program. Authors of books focused on academic and research libraries normally use evaluation when they discuss the measurement (or evaluation) of a library's operations and services. In The Measurement and Evaluation of Library Services, F.W. Lancaster explains in his definition of evaluation that it "consists of the comparison of performance with the objectives of the agency, in order to determine (a) whether there has been any change in performance for a...

A Review of:
 Harker, K. R., O'Toole, E., & Sassen, C. (2018). Assessing an academic library professional development program. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 18(1), 199-223. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2018.0010
 Abstract 
 Objective – To analyze various measures of need, participation, satisfaction, and impact of an academic library professional development program.
 Design – Multi-modal; surveys, curriculum vitae (CV) analysis, and attendance statistics.
 Setting – Academic library in the United States.
 Subjects – Library faculty of all ranks.
 Methods – Assessment of the Career Development Program began with an interest survey conducted at the beginning of the fiscal year in which participants ranked their interest in professional development topics. Attendance statistics were collected at all program sessions and participants were emailed post-event surveys comprised of three Likert-scale questions and an open-ended question. Participants in the peer-review service were emailed a survey with two Likert-scale questions and an open-ended question. All programs and surveys were voluntary.
 An “activities survey” attempted to document counts of scholarly publications and presentations according to geographic scope, format, and peer-review. However, due to low response rates, the activities survey was replaced after two years with an analysis of library faculty member CVs on a publicly-accessible university website. The final assessment was a narrative annual report that drew on and summarized all of the previously conducted assessments.
 Main Results – Multi-modal assessment of the professional development program improved its relevance and quality while also documenting its impact.
 Conclusion – Continuous and multi-faceted assessment of professional development programs not only leads to improved efficacy, but also provides accountability and details the value of the program to stakeholders. Professional development programs promote scholarly productivity, which has implications for the career satisfaction of academic librarians. Further research should investigate the validity of professional development program assessment instruments and identify which assessment methods are most effective for evaluating professional development programs and measuring the impact of this programming on scholarship.

First-generation college students (FGCS) are an increasingly significant population at institutions of higher education in the United States. While only one aspect of college student identity, first-generation students collectively enter higher education without parent(s) who have obtained, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree. As such, FGCS tap into wider networks for advice and support in making the transition to college. In this way, tapping into one’s social capital can contribute to college access, persistence, and success in the field of higher education. These terms – capital and field – are core concepts, along with habitus, that comprise Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical apparatus.
 This dissertation applies Bourdieu’s concepts of capital, habitus, and field to first-generation college students’ attitudes, perceptions, and use of academic libraries within the general library system of a large, public, historically White university. The critical qualitative study adapts Phil Carspecken’s (1996) 5-stage framework for conducting critical qualitative research and Bourdieu’s (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) recommendations for conducting a study of field. The resulting analytical framework includes inductive and deductive coding, meaning field and reconstructive horizon analysis, and an analysis of system relations. Findings can inform academic library practice and are also applicable to higher education more generally, e.g., via early intervention for FGCS. Three primary themes emerged during the data analysis process: (1) perceptions of academic libraries as anxiety-inducing spaces, (2) perceptions of libraries as sites of assurance and comfort; and (3) the relationship between students’ capital composition and their perceptions and use of academic libraries.

Some higher education institutions have announced plans for cutting funding for academic libraries in response to fiscal difficulties. However, academic libraries provide essential resources and experiences for college students, and a number of studies have investigated how institutional expenditure for academic libraries is associated with student graduation. Yet, these studies are limited in that they only examine cross-sectional correlations, do not control for other factors that can influence student success, or only examine a relatively small number of institutions. To address these limitations, we use longitudinal data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) to analyze the relationship between institutional expenditure on academic libraries and student graduation rates. In particular, we examine how library expenditure is associated with not just overall graduation rates, but the graduation rates of low-income students (i.e., recipients of the federal Pell Grant). Preliminary results indicate that institutional expenditure for academic libraries is positively associated with both overall student graduation rates and the graduation rates of low-income students, net of multiple institutional characteristics linked to graduation rates. Our findings support the importance of investing in academic libraries for student success and evidence against the budget cut of academic libraries. Our study also sheds light on academic libraries’ relevance for the performance of low-income students in universities.