Content area
Full Text
Interviews with Four Academic Library Directors
More than 30 years ago, R. M. Orr raised two critical questions about the library: "How good is it?" and, "What good does it do?" Orr's article, "Measuring the Goodness of Library Services: A General Framework for Considering Quantitative Measures," appeared in the September 1973 Journal of Documentation. Today, the same questions are often asked in the context of finding reasons to close a library. Some administrators think that we no longer need libraries now that we have Google and everything else we need on the Web. For academic librarians, these questions remain at least as important as when Orr posed them because they measure quality and value. Over the years, both the measurements and users' expectations have changed. Opportunities to improve quality, effectiveness, and value for library users and clients have increased.
Thirty years ago, the answer to how well a library served its clientele focused on the quality of physical collections as measured by numbers of volumes and depth of coverage. Services, for the most part, were invisible. The library was a quiet, contemplative place for scholars and students. The question of value was answered in terms of the number of people who came to the library building and found what they wanted. Today, the answers to quality and value questions are broader and relate to a more expansive role for the library. Many academic libraries are in the process of transforming themselves from passive service providers to active and vital forces on campus.
I discussed the changes and challenges with four distinguished academic librarians: Barbara Dewey, dean of libraries, University of Tennessee; Ray English, director of libraries, Oberlin College, and the Association of College and Research Libraries' 2006 Research Librarian of the Year; Ken Frazier, interim chief information officer and director of libraries, University of Wisconsin; and Paula Kaufman, university librarian and interim chief information officer, University of Illinois. Library directors have complex, challenging, and exhausting jobs. They work with all campus units and deal with many off-campus constituencies. Their appointments as chief information officers speak not only to their managerial talents, but also to their abilities to deal with the complexities of a large campus and different groups of employees, user demands, and people and...