Unit 2 Reflection
In Electronic Resource Librarians in Academic Libraries: A Position Announcement Analysis, 1996-2001, that we were assigned written by (Albitz, 2002) a table was included. What I found interesting was while the author saw those numbers “as a call to action” they were quite low by today's standards.
When Galadriel Chilton gave her presentation to LIS 755 (06/26/2013), if I heard her correctly, she mentioned 90% of her budget was on electronic materials. Even if this number is slightly high I strongly suspect the number is closer to Chilton than Table 5 above.
In the article, Learning the Basics of Electronic Resource Management, we read (Weir, 2012) quotes Lanning and Turner about the K-12 context in particular.
"The survey of school librarians extends what we know about the desirability of print reference sources at the K-12 level. Print reference resource use exhibits a general decline versus their electronic counterparts, receiving the least use at both higher education and school libraries. Although the preference for print reference resources increases as we move down from high schools to middle schools to elementary schools, in no case are print reference sources the preferred format." (Lanning and Turner, 2010: 218-219)
I am of mixed thoughts on this. On the one hand I agree there are certain affordances with electronic resources when they come with the right licensing agreements such as multi-use and simultaneous access. At the most affordable level electronic resources can be accessed by multiple users, simultaneously, on or off site. In the past year I have noticed the higher quality content going electronic, so while print reference material may be available they are of lesser quality.
On the other hand, I have teachers, and I am sure there are professors that can fall into this group too, that the very mention of an electronic or online database make their eyes gloss over. I am not sure who Lanning and Turner were talking to, but while I certainly have a strong bias toward electronic content, I also get my share of push back from teachers. There are some that still adapting to the card catalog going electronic.
At the end of the day, even with reservations and push back the winds of change will lean more and more towards the electronic. I think its less about a dichotomy between print or electronic, but that in our transition to electronic content we gain affordances rather than lose them. At times like this I think of JSTOR and how they limit basic user actions such as highlighting, annotations, and even electronic photocopying.
To bring this full circle to licensing, I think it becomes very important that we fight for terms that increase user options with electronic content. If we agree to poor terms that our patrons perceive as limiting their options there will be greater resistance.
Albitz, R. S. (2002). Electronic Resource Librarians in Academic Libraries: A Position Announcement Analysis, 1996-2001. portal Libraries and the Academy, 2(4), 589-600. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v002/2.4albitz.html
Ryan Weir (2012)
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