Can Academic Libraries learn from Corporate Libraries?

In the 2011-12 academic year, many UK undergraduate students will be shelling out around £9000 in tuition fees. As a result, Academic libraries must provide a service worthy of such an increased personal investment. But as academic library budgets continue to fall, how do we provide a really brilliant service with less money?

At the SLA 2011 Conference I wanted to hear how Corporate Libraries in the US are coping in the difficult financial environment. This was more a hope than an aim – I wasn’t sure if it would translate into tangible ideas that I could take back to my work as an academic librarian. However, there were several sessions that, although delivered from the perspective of a corporate library, offered ideas which could be useful for academic libraries.

The Corporate Library in Turbulent Times session was hosted by the Business & Finance Division. Jim Matarazzo and Toby Pearlstein discussed survival skills for corporate libraries. A key message from the session was the importance of demonstrating the value and worth of a service on a regular basis. US corporate libraries are therefore evaluating, SWOT-analysing and benchmarking their services in order to demonstrate their worth and avoid catching the dreaded outsource-express.

As the majority of corporate libraries are based within an organisation, information professionals in this type of role must also develop a wider knowledge of that sector. Academic libraries can do their own version of this. Does your institution have a particular research focus or a new programme? Develop and exploit this – talk to key academics and ask exactly how you can further improve that strength.

Another strong message of this session was marketing your service from the top. The speakers emphasised the importance of recruiting a champion for your service at a senior level. If these people are advocating information services, it’s more likely this message will trickle down throughout the organisation. In the case of academic libraries, if the Principal or a Head of Faculty is on your side, attracting more library advocates will be much easier in the future. In additon, both academic and corporate libraries are fighting to pay for resources – be it databases or staff – with other departments within their organisations. It’s vital that the library is a visible service to those who control the budgets.

It’s useless working really hard if the user neither wants nor uses a particular service. Prioritising services that are most popular (don’t know? ask them) is an efficient way of becoming indispensable within an organisation. But how does this relate to academic libraries? Well, I frequently hear from students and academics who haven’t visited the library all year. But they’ve probably used our electronic resources or emailed us for help. Demonstrating that it’s the library who provides these services is important. If the library brand is strong, users will immediately recognise us as the source of information.

Looking at individual services highly valued by users is a key way to prioritise services and resources in academic libraries. Selena Killick’s recent Facebook survey is a good example of this – asking university students, ‘What would your ideal academic library offer?’ Top of the poll at time of writing is ‘Access to electronic resources for my research’ – comforting words for an e-resources librarian.

Of course, there are plenty of UK academic libraries who are already doing all of this. And I’m sure there are lessons corporate libraries could take from us. I found it useful to hear about the coping strategies of US corporate libraries and consider them in relation to my own role in a university library. The ‘Future Ready‘ theme of the conference highlighted how the coping strategies of various special libraries can be applicable across the profession.

Image: New York City#2 by NatalieTracy on Flickr.