Transformational Times: An Environmental Scan Prepared for the ARL Strategic Plan Review Task Force

Transformational Times: An Environmental Scan Prepared for the ARL Strategic Plan Review Task ForcePrepared by:Charles B. Lowry, Executive DirectorPrudence Adler, Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations & Information PolicyKarla Hahn, Director, Office of Scholarly CommunicationCrit Stuart, Director, Research, Teaching & LearningWith contributions from:Jaia Barrett, Deputy Executive DirectorJulia Blixrud, Assistant Executive Director, External RelationsMartha Kyrillidou, Director, ARL Statistics and Service Quality ProgramsAnd colleagues at the Canadian Association of Research LibrariesFebruary 2009Association of Research Libraries Transformational Times:An Environmental Scan Prepared for the ARL Strategic Plan Review Task ForceFebruary 2009Published by theAssociation of Research LibrariesWashington, DC 20036www.arl.orgThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Transformational TimesFebruary 2009 www.arl.org/bm~doc/transformational-times.pdf Page 3ContentsIntroduction ..............................................................................................................................5Common Themes ........................................................................................................5Potential Threats and General Challenges ....................................................................6Trends in Scholarly Communication ...........................................................................................7Trends in Public Policies Affecting Research Libraries ...............................................................11Trends in the Library Role in Research, Teaching, and Learning ...............................................15Closing Observations ...............................................................................................................19Leveraging ARL Capabilities ........................................................................................19Finding Resources to Meet Our Ambitions .................................................................20Attachment: Selected Public Policy Trends in Canada Affecting Research Libraries ....................................21 Transformational TimesFebruary 2009 www.arl.org/bm~doc/transformational-times.pdf Page 5In 2009 the Association of Research Libraries is renewing its strategic plan. The plan that will result from this effort will guide the Association in setting priorities and organizing its activities for the next several years, a time that is expected to present unprecedented challenges and concomitant opportunities to research libraries. To support the work of the Strategic Planning Task Force, ARL senior staff have initiated an environmental scanning exercise to identify trends that are likely to affect research libraries and the work of the Association. The report considers not only challenges, but also opportunities. In engaging in the scan, ARL staff finds that these trends can be most clearly organized using the existing strategic arenas for ARL action. For each section corresponding to the three strategic directions, high-level trends are identified and further details are provided for each. Below, some general observations are offered in the form of a short list of overarching themes and challenges, followed by the concise lists of trends. The document concludes with a brief discussion of how ARL’s capabilities can relate to these emerging opportunities and expressed member needs and some closing observations on resource issues. Above all, ARL and its member libraries must have a “bias for action and collaboration.” Only by doing so can we advance the mission of research libraries in these “transformational times.”Common ThemesThe established broad strategic directions remain an effective framework for considering trends, opportunities, and challenges to research libraries and for the Association. Each strategic arena functions with partial dependence on the others and more general trends. In looking across the key trends that are described below, some common threads recur. • Libraries need to change their practices for managing traditional content and develop new capabilities for dealing with digital materials of all types, but especially new forms of scholarship, teaching and learning resources, special collections (particularly hidden collections), and research data.• Content industries inevitably seek to extend control over the copyright regime and over content, in general, while libraries, authors, and research institutions endeavor to provide more access to and active management of the intellectual assets produced by the academy.• Accountability and assessment are essential for data-driven decision maki