- Email: [email protected]
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors: International Perspectives on Library Management
CONVERSATIONS WITH LEADING ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARY DIRECTORS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION Academic libraries come in a fountain of variety, based on their collection size, types of printed and digital resources available, provision of services, staffing structure, main sources of funding, range and levels of academic programs offered, as well as user population served, etc. Nevertheless, all academic libraries are set up with the core mission to support the teaching, learning, and research activities of the college or university community as a whole. It is also highlighted by Menchaca (2014) that, “In my conception of the future, academic libraries’ strongest measure of value will be how much they support the intellectual development of undergraduates” (p. 354). Liu, Lo, and Itsumura (2016) also pointed out that, “Students at the post-secondary level should learn through inquiry and independent study. They should be taught and be encouraged to ask ‘Why?’ more often—that is, to not settle for simple answers and straight facts, but to explore further independently. In order to become independent learners, students need to take full responsibility for their own learning process. At the post-secondary level, one simply has to be a skillful and effective user of the library in order to become a true independent learner” (p. 644). With this belief in mind, college/university libraries and inquiry-based learning simply go hand-on-hand, and without doubt the library and its use should be made an integral part of any student’s learning process as a whole (Liu et al., 2016). In this vision, academic librarians are expected to serve as guides or research consultants, and much more to the students in assessing all possible intellectual properties and information resources in a variety of formats, both within and beyond the physical library. In this conception, libraries should unarguably occupy a central and irreplaceable place in students’ pathways through their college careers. In short, the
xxxix
xl
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
university library is expected to serve as the core center of academic, social, and especially intellectual discovery. For this reason, Menchaca (2014) truly believes that “students’ success is library success” (p. 354). It is often said that intellectual development could be measured by one’s critical thinking skills, ability to communicate, and to solve problems effectively. Despite this, students and teaching staff at different universities of different standards, curricula, countries, and cultures have diversely different preferences, needs, skill sets, and capabilities. As a result, their understandings of what inquiry-based learning is, how it should be carried out, as well as its expected learning outcome could be drastically different from one another. In some cases, students do not see the distinctive differences between fact regurgitation and scholarly discussions. Meanwhile, some teachers do not see the need for teaching inquiry-based learning to students for various cultural and/or administrative reasons. In many situations, if students are capable of going to the library to find factual information independently—to answer true-or-false or multiplechoice questions correctly, or being able to find pass exam papers to study from—that is already considered an adequate form of inquiry-based learning, even at postgraduate level. Meanwhile, students in other cases are expected to construct a narrative (preferably filled with scholarly discussions) that would demonstrate their own understanding of the topic given/chosen, and to formulate their novel research questions and proposals. In this context, despite their immeasurable values to students’ learning and research, libraries in different educational institutions, situated in different cultural landscapes, have diversely different roles to play.
2. ALL OUR STUDENTS USE GOOGLE, SO WHY DO WE NEED THE LIBRARY? It is universally acknowledged that the library (regardless of being public or academic) is expected to serve as a gateway to global information and knowledge, enabling direct and remote access to resources in a variety of formats. Through the library, people also disseminate, share, and exchange information, ideas, and knowledge—what is essential to the students’ learning and scholarly research as a whole. However, libraries today are situated in an environment that is driven by change. The most challenging change faced by librarians is the dynamic information environment brought about by the Internet. As highlighted by Posey (2009), “In an electronic age, information seekers are accustomed to instant access,
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xli
instant gratification, as well as increasing the need for quality library service” (p. 13). In these students’ minds, what is the point of coming to the library, if they think they could easily find everything they need from Google? OCLC1 also reported that of college students’ electronic information searches, 89% began with a search engine (e.g., Google), while only 2% began with the library website—for the reason that students considered search engines faster, more convenient, and easier to use (Sadeh, 2007, p. 309). According to a recent study carried out by Liu et al. (2016), when two groups of students from Shanghai and Taipei were asked, “If you are unable to find materials (e.g., a book or a research article) to finish your research/assignments, what would you consult?” Unsurprisingly, a majority of the respondents in both student groups would consult Google as the very first source, instead of asking university librarians or their professors first. So the key question arises: what are the roles and the future for the survival of academic libraries and their librarians? In what ways should we continue to evolve as our world turns increasingly digital? What kinds of mind-set, skill sets, and capabilities are most sought-after amongst academic and research librarians practicing in the 21st century, in order to response to the needs and expectations of the changing populations (both students and faculty) that we strive to serve. In particular, if continuing professional development, innovation, diversity, and inclusion are the most desirable qualities in the future library and information science (LIS) industry, what roles does the director of an academic library play in terms of shaping the future landscape of our profession, as well as fostering an organizational culture that promotes these valuable qualities mentioned above? With this in mind, this book aims at developing a new understanding of the core values of the academic and research libraries, and how librarians could continually innovate and adapt new information services and user space, in order to cope with the rapidly changing users’ requirements under such extreme information dynamism.
3. AIMS OF THIS BOOK There are countless books and online articles currently available, featuring conversational-style (both formal and informal) interviews with CEO’s of 1
Online Computer Library Center. Homepage available from https://www.oclc.org/en/ home.html.
xlii
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
top companies, powerful world leaders, politicians, filmmakers, opera stars, symphony conductors, educators, Nobel Prize winners, or even CIA2 operatives, and so on. Despite directors of major libraries playing such an influential role in terms of shaping the learning practices and our access to information for universities and to the research community as a whole, books devoted entirely to featuring top-level library managers’ discussions on their philosophy and ideology behind their management and leadership styles are almost nonexistent worldwide. Rather than receiving the knowledge second-hand from other LIS literature, via this book, the readers can hear about the most up-to-date trends and practices in the LIS profession directly from the top-level directors of 30 different internationally acclaimed academic and research libraries located in many different parts of the world, including: Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Furthermore, LIS literature currently available tends to be too focused on the North American perspective. For mid-level managers and even current LIS students, it is for them of equal importance and interest to provide an international perspective of academic and research librarianship, that is how to manage a library from a macroperspective, even before one enters the profession. In addition, most LIS programs do not talk about what it means to be a director or to be in upper-level management—for the reason that LIS students tend to learn more about the theoretical information or just the operational side. With this book, LIS students can obtain a better understanding of what kinds of careers are out there awaiting them, rather than being solely focused on technical/operational-level management, for example, reference services, circulation, cataloging, etc. Through these interviews, even though essential issues related to senior-level management are briefly mentioned, the interviewees often describe the complex staffing structures, and the administrative commentaries that go on throughout the library, as well as the many goings-on within the organization that an LIS student would not usually be privy to. For many LIS students, not just in North America, but worldwide, this book complements in many ways the theoretical knowledge gained from LIS schools.
2
Central Intelligence Agency. Homepage available at: http://www.cia.gov.
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xliii
4. CHOICE OF METHODS Over the past year, we have had the opportunity to talk, via Skype or written emails, with some of the most insightful, passionate, as well as inspiring directors in the world of various aspects of librarianship, from academic, and special research libraries, from Folger Shakespeare Library to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research Scientific Library (Moscow), etc. In this book, we feature the conversations that help shape our understanding, and inspire us with their dedication to a more informed, better educated, better prepared student, academic staff, researchers, and even administrators. In this book, the authors and the interviewees together explore topics such as the influence of libraries in academic and research communities, impacts on and relations to their current teaching, learning, and research endeavors. These inspiring exchanges, from some of the best leaders in the field of academic and research librarianship, present thought-provoking ideas and practical insights into the profession that plays a central role in their professional practices in the society or research communities that are increasingly driven by the pervasive use of everevolving information and communication technologies. In summary, interviewing the general directors of the world’s leading academic and research libraries provides an effective way to comprehend the matrix in which their contributions arise. The choice of research methods was influenced by the objectives of this book project. This study was intended to be exploratory and to reveal a different, richer type of data, than that which a questionnaire survey could not provide. The qualitative (direct interview) approach provided valuable opportunities for the individuals in leadership positions to elaborate on their unique experiences. The interview answers were created from the participants’ own viewpoints. The interviewees took full control over the flow of the entire conversation, and we purposely did not want to control or interfere with the answers to our open-ended questions, giving the participants total freedom to respond in their own words, based on their interpretations of the questions. This natural and conversational method of interviewing ensured maximum flexibility for more open, spontaneous, and instant exchanges of ideas without any preconceived expectations on our side. More importantly, we used a series of follow-up questions to clarify their answers, and then verify the participants’ responses and the interviewer’s understanding. In doing so, we saw “themes” emerge organically during the course of
xliv
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
the conversations, and developed a mutual understanding of the concepts being examined. The goal of course was not always the technical explanations behind specific tasks or operations, but rather the immediate and direct experiences of the individuals and the phenomena illustrating the underlying reasons for their actions and decisions. One major advantage of using semistructured interview questions was that it facilitates probing and ensured that crucial information was not omitted (Neuman, 2009). Furthermore, it enabled interviewees’ experiences, attitudes, and opinions to be fully expressed in their own words, and, at the same time, allowing space for a variety of, sometimes contradictory, viewpoints to be aired. In addition to allowing the participants to articulate the answers based on their own understandings of our questions, such natural and free conversational interviews also enabled maximum flexibility for more open, spontaneous, and instant exchanges of ideas without any preconceived expectations on the interviewers’ side. More importantly, we could use a series of follow-up questions (applied in both Skype and email interviews) to clarify their answers, as well as to verify immediately the participants’ responses and our own understanding. According to Bryman (2001), one of the strengths of qualitative interviewing is the space it creates to allow “unexpected” responses to emerge. Therefore, a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was therefore considered appropriate for the aims and setting of this study. Rossman and Rallis also point out that the interview approach not only provides opportunities for open discussions where both the participants and the researchers can “construct meaning” together, it is also essential to understand how participants view their world.
4.1 Interviews via Skype and Email Email and Skype interviews (each of approximately 60 minutes in length), conducted over a 12-month period, were the main data-gathering techniques used in this book project. Participation in each interview was, of course, entirely voluntary. The interviews were conducted in semistructured format, and were fluid in nature. All participants were asked a similar set of open-ended questions, together with some tailored questions depending on the backgrounds and the institutions that the individual interviewees were working for, with the aim of maintaining a level of
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xlv
consistency amongst the interview results. The idea was to possibly find common threads amongst the participants’ answers. These questions dealt with individual interviewees’ own educational backgrounds, current occupational status, professional competencies, specialized areas/skills, and mostly importantly with the different factors which motivated these academic library professionals to choose a career path that led to their current leadership positions. Prior emails were written to the respective participants to seek permission for conducting the interviews, explaining the purpose of the study, outlining the approximate length of the interviews, and so on. With reference to the interviews that were done in the form of email, readers should also take into account that several interviewees, who were not English speakers, chose to answer their interview questions in their mother tongues. And we, as authors, had to find ways to translate these interviews back into English afterwards. Whereas for the other interviews that were carried out over Skype, permissions were also sought for digital voice-recording of the interview sessions. The recorded interviews were then transcribed, and then relevant information revealed by individual participants was arranged in common themes. In order to observe the ethical issues associated with research interviews after they have been transcribed, transcripts were sent to the interviewees for their review, corrections, and approval. Further, they were invited to sign the documents to confirm publishing by the publisher. For both Skype and email interviews, the central task was to identify the common issues or themes in the experiences related by the participants (Neuman, 2009).
5. INTENDED READERS This book serves multiple purposes and should appeal to multiple audience groups, depending on individual reader’s background, needs, and interests. This book demonstrates the importance and the current breadth of the field of academic and research librarianship in a global context, and is therefore of definite interest to LIS professionals who are already practicing in the field, mid-level managers who are aspiring to advance their careers and become future leaders, as well as general readers who just want to know more about libraries and work inside them. For professors, this book could serve as a useful teaching material by allowing students (both graduate and undergraduate levels) to become more knowledgeable in the current professional practices in LIS, as well as case studies for
xlvi
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
various library subjects. Furthermore, this book could also function as an important reference guide for all students who are considering pursuing a career in librarianship.
REFERENCES Bryman, A. (2001). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Liu, Q., Lo, P., & Itsumura, H. (2016). Measuring the importance of library user education: A comparative study between Fudan University and the National Taiwan Normal University. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42, 644 654. Menchaca, F. (2014). Start a new fire: Measuring the value of academic libraries in undergraduate learning. Libraries and the Academy, 14(3), 353 367. Neuman, W. (2009). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (7th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Posey, J. (2009). Student perceptions and expectations of library services quality and user satisfaction at Walters State Community College (Electronic theses and dissertations). Paper 1836. Available from ,http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1836.. Sadeh, T. (2007). User expectation in the library: A case study. New Library World, 108(7/ 8), 307 316.
FURTHER READING Rossman, G. B., & Rallis, S. F. (1996). Learning in the field: An introduction to qualitative research (p. 124) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
1. INTRODUCTION Academic libraries come in a fountain of variety, based on their collection size, types of printed and digital resources available, provision of services, staffing structure, main sources of funding, range and levels of academic programs offered, as well as user population served, etc. Nevertheless, all academic libraries are set up with the core mission to support the teaching, learning, and research activities of the college or university community as a whole. It is also highlighted by Menchaca (2014) that, “In my conception of the future, academic libraries’ strongest measure of value will be how much they support the intellectual development of undergraduates” (p. 354). Liu, Lo, and Itsumura (2016) also pointed out that, “Students at the post-secondary level should learn through inquiry and independent study. They should be taught and be encouraged to ask ‘Why?’ more often—that is, to not settle for simple answers and straight facts, but to explore further independently. In order to become independent learners, students need to take full responsibility for their own learning process. At the post-secondary level, one simply has to be a skillful and effective user of the library in order to become a true independent learner” (p. 644). With this belief in mind, college/university libraries and inquiry-based learning simply go hand-on-hand, and without doubt the library and its use should be made an integral part of any student’s learning process as a whole (Liu et al., 2016). In this vision, academic librarians are expected to serve as guides or research consultants, and much more to the students in assessing all possible intellectual properties and information resources in a variety of formats, both within and beyond the physical library. In this conception, libraries should unarguably occupy a central and irreplaceable place in students’ pathways through their college careers. In short, the
xxxix
xl
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
university library is expected to serve as the core center of academic, social, and especially intellectual discovery. For this reason, Menchaca (2014) truly believes that “students’ success is library success” (p. 354). It is often said that intellectual development could be measured by one’s critical thinking skills, ability to communicate, and to solve problems effectively. Despite this, students and teaching staff at different universities of different standards, curricula, countries, and cultures have diversely different preferences, needs, skill sets, and capabilities. As a result, their understandings of what inquiry-based learning is, how it should be carried out, as well as its expected learning outcome could be drastically different from one another. In some cases, students do not see the distinctive differences between fact regurgitation and scholarly discussions. Meanwhile, some teachers do not see the need for teaching inquiry-based learning to students for various cultural and/or administrative reasons. In many situations, if students are capable of going to the library to find factual information independently—to answer true-or-false or multiplechoice questions correctly, or being able to find pass exam papers to study from—that is already considered an adequate form of inquiry-based learning, even at postgraduate level. Meanwhile, students in other cases are expected to construct a narrative (preferably filled with scholarly discussions) that would demonstrate their own understanding of the topic given/chosen, and to formulate their novel research questions and proposals. In this context, despite their immeasurable values to students’ learning and research, libraries in different educational institutions, situated in different cultural landscapes, have diversely different roles to play.
2. ALL OUR STUDENTS USE GOOGLE, SO WHY DO WE NEED THE LIBRARY? It is universally acknowledged that the library (regardless of being public or academic) is expected to serve as a gateway to global information and knowledge, enabling direct and remote access to resources in a variety of formats. Through the library, people also disseminate, share, and exchange information, ideas, and knowledge—what is essential to the students’ learning and scholarly research as a whole. However, libraries today are situated in an environment that is driven by change. The most challenging change faced by librarians is the dynamic information environment brought about by the Internet. As highlighted by Posey (2009), “In an electronic age, information seekers are accustomed to instant access,
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xli
instant gratification, as well as increasing the need for quality library service” (p. 13). In these students’ minds, what is the point of coming to the library, if they think they could easily find everything they need from Google? OCLC1 also reported that of college students’ electronic information searches, 89% began with a search engine (e.g., Google), while only 2% began with the library website—for the reason that students considered search engines faster, more convenient, and easier to use (Sadeh, 2007, p. 309). According to a recent study carried out by Liu et al. (2016), when two groups of students from Shanghai and Taipei were asked, “If you are unable to find materials (e.g., a book or a research article) to finish your research/assignments, what would you consult?” Unsurprisingly, a majority of the respondents in both student groups would consult Google as the very first source, instead of asking university librarians or their professors first. So the key question arises: what are the roles and the future for the survival of academic libraries and their librarians? In what ways should we continue to evolve as our world turns increasingly digital? What kinds of mind-set, skill sets, and capabilities are most sought-after amongst academic and research librarians practicing in the 21st century, in order to response to the needs and expectations of the changing populations (both students and faculty) that we strive to serve. In particular, if continuing professional development, innovation, diversity, and inclusion are the most desirable qualities in the future library and information science (LIS) industry, what roles does the director of an academic library play in terms of shaping the future landscape of our profession, as well as fostering an organizational culture that promotes these valuable qualities mentioned above? With this in mind, this book aims at developing a new understanding of the core values of the academic and research libraries, and how librarians could continually innovate and adapt new information services and user space, in order to cope with the rapidly changing users’ requirements under such extreme information dynamism.
3. AIMS OF THIS BOOK There are countless books and online articles currently available, featuring conversational-style (both formal and informal) interviews with CEO’s of 1
Online Computer Library Center. Homepage available from https://www.oclc.org/en/ home.html.
xlii
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
top companies, powerful world leaders, politicians, filmmakers, opera stars, symphony conductors, educators, Nobel Prize winners, or even CIA2 operatives, and so on. Despite directors of major libraries playing such an influential role in terms of shaping the learning practices and our access to information for universities and to the research community as a whole, books devoted entirely to featuring top-level library managers’ discussions on their philosophy and ideology behind their management and leadership styles are almost nonexistent worldwide. Rather than receiving the knowledge second-hand from other LIS literature, via this book, the readers can hear about the most up-to-date trends and practices in the LIS profession directly from the top-level directors of 30 different internationally acclaimed academic and research libraries located in many different parts of the world, including: Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Furthermore, LIS literature currently available tends to be too focused on the North American perspective. For mid-level managers and even current LIS students, it is for them of equal importance and interest to provide an international perspective of academic and research librarianship, that is how to manage a library from a macroperspective, even before one enters the profession. In addition, most LIS programs do not talk about what it means to be a director or to be in upper-level management—for the reason that LIS students tend to learn more about the theoretical information or just the operational side. With this book, LIS students can obtain a better understanding of what kinds of careers are out there awaiting them, rather than being solely focused on technical/operational-level management, for example, reference services, circulation, cataloging, etc. Through these interviews, even though essential issues related to senior-level management are briefly mentioned, the interviewees often describe the complex staffing structures, and the administrative commentaries that go on throughout the library, as well as the many goings-on within the organization that an LIS student would not usually be privy to. For many LIS students, not just in North America, but worldwide, this book complements in many ways the theoretical knowledge gained from LIS schools.
2
Central Intelligence Agency. Homepage available at: http://www.cia.gov.
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xliii
4. CHOICE OF METHODS Over the past year, we have had the opportunity to talk, via Skype or written emails, with some of the most insightful, passionate, as well as inspiring directors in the world of various aspects of librarianship, from academic, and special research libraries, from Folger Shakespeare Library to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research Scientific Library (Moscow), etc. In this book, we feature the conversations that help shape our understanding, and inspire us with their dedication to a more informed, better educated, better prepared student, academic staff, researchers, and even administrators. In this book, the authors and the interviewees together explore topics such as the influence of libraries in academic and research communities, impacts on and relations to their current teaching, learning, and research endeavors. These inspiring exchanges, from some of the best leaders in the field of academic and research librarianship, present thought-provoking ideas and practical insights into the profession that plays a central role in their professional practices in the society or research communities that are increasingly driven by the pervasive use of everevolving information and communication technologies. In summary, interviewing the general directors of the world’s leading academic and research libraries provides an effective way to comprehend the matrix in which their contributions arise. The choice of research methods was influenced by the objectives of this book project. This study was intended to be exploratory and to reveal a different, richer type of data, than that which a questionnaire survey could not provide. The qualitative (direct interview) approach provided valuable opportunities for the individuals in leadership positions to elaborate on their unique experiences. The interview answers were created from the participants’ own viewpoints. The interviewees took full control over the flow of the entire conversation, and we purposely did not want to control or interfere with the answers to our open-ended questions, giving the participants total freedom to respond in their own words, based on their interpretations of the questions. This natural and conversational method of interviewing ensured maximum flexibility for more open, spontaneous, and instant exchanges of ideas without any preconceived expectations on our side. More importantly, we used a series of follow-up questions to clarify their answers, and then verify the participants’ responses and the interviewer’s understanding. In doing so, we saw “themes” emerge organically during the course of
xliv
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
the conversations, and developed a mutual understanding of the concepts being examined. The goal of course was not always the technical explanations behind specific tasks or operations, but rather the immediate and direct experiences of the individuals and the phenomena illustrating the underlying reasons for their actions and decisions. One major advantage of using semistructured interview questions was that it facilitates probing and ensured that crucial information was not omitted (Neuman, 2009). Furthermore, it enabled interviewees’ experiences, attitudes, and opinions to be fully expressed in their own words, and, at the same time, allowing space for a variety of, sometimes contradictory, viewpoints to be aired. In addition to allowing the participants to articulate the answers based on their own understandings of our questions, such natural and free conversational interviews also enabled maximum flexibility for more open, spontaneous, and instant exchanges of ideas without any preconceived expectations on the interviewers’ side. More importantly, we could use a series of follow-up questions (applied in both Skype and email interviews) to clarify their answers, as well as to verify immediately the participants’ responses and our own understanding. According to Bryman (2001), one of the strengths of qualitative interviewing is the space it creates to allow “unexpected” responses to emerge. Therefore, a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis was therefore considered appropriate for the aims and setting of this study. Rossman and Rallis also point out that the interview approach not only provides opportunities for open discussions where both the participants and the researchers can “construct meaning” together, it is also essential to understand how participants view their world.
4.1 Interviews via Skype and Email Email and Skype interviews (each of approximately 60 minutes in length), conducted over a 12-month period, were the main data-gathering techniques used in this book project. Participation in each interview was, of course, entirely voluntary. The interviews were conducted in semistructured format, and were fluid in nature. All participants were asked a similar set of open-ended questions, together with some tailored questions depending on the backgrounds and the institutions that the individual interviewees were working for, with the aim of maintaining a level of
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
xlv
consistency amongst the interview results. The idea was to possibly find common threads amongst the participants’ answers. These questions dealt with individual interviewees’ own educational backgrounds, current occupational status, professional competencies, specialized areas/skills, and mostly importantly with the different factors which motivated these academic library professionals to choose a career path that led to their current leadership positions. Prior emails were written to the respective participants to seek permission for conducting the interviews, explaining the purpose of the study, outlining the approximate length of the interviews, and so on. With reference to the interviews that were done in the form of email, readers should also take into account that several interviewees, who were not English speakers, chose to answer their interview questions in their mother tongues. And we, as authors, had to find ways to translate these interviews back into English afterwards. Whereas for the other interviews that were carried out over Skype, permissions were also sought for digital voice-recording of the interview sessions. The recorded interviews were then transcribed, and then relevant information revealed by individual participants was arranged in common themes. In order to observe the ethical issues associated with research interviews after they have been transcribed, transcripts were sent to the interviewees for their review, corrections, and approval. Further, they were invited to sign the documents to confirm publishing by the publisher. For both Skype and email interviews, the central task was to identify the common issues or themes in the experiences related by the participants (Neuman, 2009).
5. INTENDED READERS This book serves multiple purposes and should appeal to multiple audience groups, depending on individual reader’s background, needs, and interests. This book demonstrates the importance and the current breadth of the field of academic and research librarianship in a global context, and is therefore of definite interest to LIS professionals who are already practicing in the field, mid-level managers who are aspiring to advance their careers and become future leaders, as well as general readers who just want to know more about libraries and work inside them. For professors, this book could serve as a useful teaching material by allowing students (both graduate and undergraduate levels) to become more knowledgeable in the current professional practices in LIS, as well as case studies for
xlvi
Conversations with Leading Academic and Research Library Directors
various library subjects. Furthermore, this book could also function as an important reference guide for all students who are considering pursuing a career in librarianship.
REFERENCES Bryman, A. (2001). Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Liu, Q., Lo, P., & Itsumura, H. (2016). Measuring the importance of library user education: A comparative study between Fudan University and the National Taiwan Normal University. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42, 644 654. Menchaca, F. (2014). Start a new fire: Measuring the value of academic libraries in undergraduate learning. Libraries and the Academy, 14(3), 353 367. Neuman, W. (2009). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (7th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Posey, J. (2009). Student perceptions and expectations of library services quality and user satisfaction at Walters State Community College (Electronic theses and dissertations). Paper 1836. Available from ,http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1836.. Sadeh, T. (2007). User expectation in the library: A case study. New Library World, 108(7/ 8), 307 316.
FURTHER READING Rossman, G. B., & Rallis, S. F. (1996). Learning in the field: An introduction to qualitative research (p. 124) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.