Academic libraries are leveraging new technologies to reach students and faculty where they are—whether that’s through apps to bring them ebooks or research management software to streamline the grant application process. As the content and service mix at libraries changes, new privacy issues and value propositions arise.

Lindsay Levinsohn of OverDrive Professional shares her thoughts on demonstrating the library’s value on campus by harnessing analytics while respecting user privacy.

The library collection is not what it once was. Administrators are asking questions about devoting large amounts of space to housing books, and librarians are adapting their spaces to meet changing user needs. Stacks are being replaced by meeting spaces, learning commons, and computer labs. But in this environment, libraries also need to provide the materials—physical and electronic—to meet the educational and research needs of their patrons.

This week, Lindsay Levinsohn of OverDrive addresses the changing nature of the academic library collection and thinks through the opportunities those changes provide.

Libraries are collecting different data now than they were say, ten years ago. That changes has come in part because of advances in technology and in part because of the way librarians perceptions of their data have changed. Kristen Tepfer of SAGE publishing talks about some of the ways the data she provides to her clients have changed and why it is, while Dr. Carol Tenopir talks through collecting additional survey data to answer the question, “So what?” Dr. Stephanie Evergreen talks data-driven decision making.

Is it possible to visualize qualitative data? How do libraries justify their collection, staffing, and other priorities with data? How has that data changed over the last decade, since the ascendance of the turn-away?

This episode dives into the different types of data libraries collect and how librarians can use them to inform themselves and justify their decisions to the university’s administration.

In this episode, Dr. Carol Ember describes how researchers in the U.K. used the extensive ethnographic record in HRAF to form hypotheses about the spread of AIDS through cultural practices involving human saliva. She also elucidates a bit of research she and her late husband, Melvin Ember, along with a political scientist undertook to determine whether the claim that democracies don’t fight each other—which is widely circulated in studies of international relations—is an artifact of treaties like NATO, high standards of living and other features of contemporary democracies, or whether it’s a more general principal that can be applied across polities. Dr. Peter Peregrine also explains the power of index searching and examines the quality of the ethnographies collected in HRAF.

To learn more about HRAF, visit the Human Relations Area Files website.

What tools should be in every data vizzard’s toolbox? How do you create a visualization for something like a cost-benefit analysis? What makes for a great graph title? Dr. Stephanie Evergreen and Kristen Tepfer talk data visualization for libraries, and offer foundational ideas for creating great data visualizations.

What’s the difference between value and ROI, and which should an academic library be reporting? Are there best practices for making a case with data? What are the limits of library data, and how can publishers help push beyond those limits? Dr. Carol Tenopir of the University of Tennessee, Dr. Stephanie Evergreen of Evergreen Data, and Kristen Tepfer of SAGE Publishing talk data in libraries, and walk listeners through how to communicate a library’s value using data.

Vocational awe is a term Fobazi Ettarh uses to “[describe] the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries, as institutions, are inherently good.1” Though it may seem counter-intuitive that assuming a library is “inherently good” can lead to unproductive ends, Fobazi makes the case for examining the history of libraries and the stories told about them in order to understand why librarians are asked to feel inspired by their jobs, and how that inspiration isn’t always best for the librarian or the patron. In her discussion with Bill Mickey, Fobazi turns a critical eye on the library to find ways to make it better—for everyone.

Big academic publishers are trying to turn big data on researchers and the research life-cycle into big money. Karen Phillips talks through SAGE’s priorities regarding data (hint: it’s not about collecting reams and reams of it) and how user behavior is making discovery services feel a bit old fashioned. Johan touches on how researchers are interacting with materials on mobile devices, and Richard outlines how those changing user behaviors are impacting Penn’s interactions with the library’s users.

Been hearing buzz about ACRL’s new research agenda, “Open and Equitable Scholarly Communications: Creating a More Inclusive Future?” In this episode, Bill talks with the current chair of ACRL’s Research and Scholarly Environment Committee (ReSEC), Yasmeen Shorish, and incoming chair, Nathan Hall—two ReSEC members involved in creating and promoting the report—about how this research agenda is different from any other agenda ACRL has published. They address the report’s structure, how that structure was achieved, and how they anticipate the agenda will help inform other research projects. While the agenda sets a high bar for systemic change, it also provides ample opportunities for ongoing research projects and actionable takeaways to create momentum toward that change.

They also address ways that ACRL is supporting the agenda in an ongoing way through grants to support research aligned with the priority areas detailed in the report.

To download a free copy of the report, click here.