How will the academic library change in order to remain a core contributor to the missions of the 21st century college or university, and what skills do academic library professionals need to master in order to remain vital members of the evolving campus community? How will we define the expertise that libraries and library professionals bring to the broader issues associated with research, teaching, learning, and service? How will the academic library remain an active partner with classroom faculty, IT professionals, and others on campuses where both
the information environment and the expectations for higher education are in flux?
Whether you are a subject specialist who has been asked to become an expert in assessment, a bibliographer whose focus has shifted from collection building to scholarly communications, a reference librarian who has become a key contributor to instructional design efforts, or a
library professional whose skills in areas like copyright management, user studies, facilities management, or digital publishing are essential to emergent library initiatives, this is your opportunity to contribute to a discussion both about how the academic library is changing, and
about how the range of responsibilities for librarians and other library professionals are evolving.
This collection will focus on two ideas: 1) the 2007 statement by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) that one of the "Top 10 Assumptions for the Future of Academic Libraries" is that "the skill set for librarians will continue to evolve in response to the needs and
expectations of the . . . [populations] that they serve"; and, 2) the suggestion made by James Neal (2006) that the academic library will become a venue for ongoing collaboration between professional librarians and other library professionals.
Whether focused on new definitions for library positions (e.g., Instructional Design Librarian, Assessment Coordinator, Scholarly Communications Coordinator), on new organizational structures within libraries (e.g., Undergraduate Initiatives, Digital Publishing Office, Copyright Advisory Office), on new expectations for core competencies for academic librarians (e.g., teaching effectiveness, technology skills), or on the ways in which libraries and library professionals must evolve in response to the changing nature of the academic environment and the learned professions, contributions to this collection should address the overarching question:
What are the skills that librarians must have, and the roles that libraries must play, in
order to remain relevant on the 21st century campus?
The editors are especially interested in proposals that fall under the following broad categories:
* Changing roles for academic libraries on campus;
* Redefining traditional roles and responsibilities in reference, systems, technical services, or instruction librarianship;
* Identifying new positions and responsibilities becoming common among libraries;
* Establishing new organizational structures designed to support new roles for library professionals or libraries;
* Recruiting and mentoring new professions and new professionals into the library; and,
* Case studies in organizational development or re-alignment of professional responsibilities.
The collection will be edited by Scott Walter (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Vicki Coleman (Arizona State University), and Karen Williams (University of Minnesota) and will be published by the Association of College & Research Libraries.
Please send inquiries or proposals (300-500 words) to Scott Walter
chapters will be due by June 30, 2008.
