Living the Future 6 The Directors Panel Tucson, Arizona 6 April, 2006 Brinley Franklin Vice Provost for University Libraries

THREE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIBRARIES * BY Build digital library functionality/preserve and archive digital content as a matter of course 2.Enhance the student experience and offer faculty publishing capabilities, repositories for their work, and self-sufficiency 3.Support the needs of big science (adapted from “Thinking about the Future Relevance and Impact of the Academic Research Library”, a presentation to the Greater Western Library Alliance by James G. Neal on 27 February, 2006)

CHARACTERISTICS OF STRATEGIES WE NEED TO LEARN TO BE SUCCESSFUL Move library liaisons out of the library - Locate them away from the reference desk and into the academic, research and clinical facilities on campus. Re-think library space - Consider the de-accessioning of low-use collections. Be willing to rely on others to provide articles and books in a 24 to 48 hour timeframe. Do you really need a sizable reference collection in today’s information environment? Offer library space to other campus academic support units’ leverage the resources you collectively wield, and offer students one-stop learning opportunities. Think in terms of regional collection development instead of local collection development - Bibliographers and selectors need new mental models. Be prepared for perpetual accountability - Return on investment and cost justification questions are here to stay. Assess the impact of library collections and services on an ongoing basis and be prepared to make difficult choices (again and again and again).

Risks We Need to be Willing to Take Accept the fact that CHANGE is not a four letter word. While chaos may cause us anxiety, disruption of the status quo is inevitable and almost complete re-invention may be necessary for academic libraries to survive. Re-think core values. Libraries’ mission critical services in 2011 will not be print collections (in most disciplines), mediated services, or technical services. Surrender to the reality that successful librarians in 2011 will be information scientists, applications developers, metadata specialists, and credentialed teachers with in-depth subject expertise. Information technology developments, next generation search engines, artificial intelligence breakthroughs and robotics will revolutionize the way that future academics conduct research and use libraries.

Some parting words…. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” (Peter Drucker) “A fundamental rule in technology says that whatever can be done will be done.” (Andrew Grove) “Teach yourself to work in uncertainty” (Bernard Malamud) “It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.” (Seneca) “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where is no path and leave a trail.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” (Mahatma Gandhi)