http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/aug/20/academic-libraries-value-research-teaching

Findings from three geographic areas, the United States, United Kingdom and Scandinavia, indicated that there is no systematic evidence of the value of academic libraries for teaching and research staff. Despite this, librarians noted that they receive positive feedback about the support the library provides, but there is a perception that academic staff do not really know how to use all that the library can offer.

Read more about the findings, and download a copy here.

The response from the library community has been exceptional. We have had more than 16,000 visits to our blog, and many more people attend the presentations held on the report’s findings. We will continue to update this site with other output generated from this project, and hope that you will consider sharing your best practice and experiences on the site too.

As we’re now in the process of analysing the qualitative data collected in the 8 case studies, we thought it would be interesting to create a word cloud for our readers to visualize the preliminary findings of our research.

Word clouds represent the frequencies of words appearing in a textual document. They generally give a good overview of the recurring topics in your qualitative data, thus they usually give a good indication of the main themes devloped in the document. It can also be used as a visual indicator of topics that may be worth exploring further.

As usual we welcome your thoughts on the main themes that have emerged in our word cloud!

We have conducted 8 case studies in three regions – the UK, USA and Scandinavia – to uncover examples of good practice in relation to raising the profile and value of the library within the institution, and to teaching and research staff in particular. 

This survey is the final stage of the project, and aims to explore some of the case study findings in the wider academic library sector. We want to know whether our findings resonate with librarians’ experience at their institution.

To this end we invite you to complete this short survey (10 minutes) and share your views and experiences at your library. 

This survey is open to all higher education librarians. We particularly encourage academic liaison librarians, or individuals in a similar position, to complete the survey.  Please feel free to distribute this survey to colleagues at your library.

Please follow this link https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/lboro/sage-scand  to take part.

 The survey will remain open until 16th May 2012.

 For any questions please contact us at lisu@lboro.ac.uk. 

Thank you.

We want to know whether this is widespread, or could it be the start of a new trend? US libarians seem to teach more than in the UK – Let us know your views…

We have been told that  many academics/faculty have difficulty with the term ‘information literacy’ – they don’t understand it, or why they need it. In the past it has been interpreted as ‘how to use the catalogue’, or a ‘research thing’.  (UK)

What jargon-busting terms do you use to get your message across to research and teaching staff?