2010: a library odyssey
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120810844649 |
| Pages | 51-66 |
| Published date | 10 January 2008 |
| Date | 10 January 2008 |
| Author | Grace Saw,Wai Wai Lui,Fei Yu |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
2010: a library odyssey
Grace Saw, Wai Wai Lui and Fei Yu
University of Queensland Library, The University of Queensland,
St Lucia, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The paper aims to provide an overview of how the University of Queensland (UQ) library
has prepared itself for the changes and challenges of the future and positioned itself in readiness for
some of the forecast mega trends of 2020.
Design/methodology/approach – The experience of the complete makeover of the UQ Library is
used as a case study to demonstrate how a library has responded to the challenges from planning to
the implementation stages.
Findings – In the first decade of the twenty-first century, Australian libraries are faced with a
number of new challenges such as the Bologna Process in Australia; the implementation of the
Research Quality Framework process; the ongoing internet revolution; the impact of the Open Access
Initiative; further development of e-research and e-prints; the trends of internationalisation and
globalisation on higher education; the implications of copyright; and the challenges and changes in the
age of user-generated technologies. This paper reveals the strategies and activities undertaken by an
Australian academic library in meeting those future challenges.
Originality/value – The paper identifies four major areas that present most challenges to academic
libraries such as international trends, government and education policies, information and
communication technology and new modes of teaching and learning. It discusses how the UQ
Library has responded to those challenges. This paper will be of interest to other academic libraries.
Keywords Change management,Academic libraries, Globalization, Learning organizations, Australia
Paper type Case study
Background
The University of Queensland
The University of Queensland (UQ) is a leader among Australian universities and is
recognised internationally as a premier research institution. It is the largest and also
the oldest university in Queensland. It has over 37,000 students and 5,000 staff. The
main University campus is at St Lucia in the western suburbs of Brisbane. Other
campuses include: Gatton, located 100 kilometres from Brisbane; Ipswich, which is a
new campus located 40 kilometres from Brisbane; a medical school; a dental sch ool as
well as farms and research centres throughout Queensland.
The University’s teaching, learning and research activities have attracted numerous
awards. In 1998 the University of Queensland was declared the University of the Year
by the Good Universities Guide to Australian Universities. It received the maximum
five-star rating for positive graduate outcomes, prestige, student demand, research
performance, gender balance and staff qualifications. The University is consistently in
the top three in Australia in the amounts of researching funding it receives and
consistently performs well in teaching and learning awards nationally. The University
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Presented at the Conference The Academic Librarian: Dinosaur or Phoenix? 11-12 April 2007,
Hong Kong.
2010: a library
odyssey
51
Received 3 April 2007
Accepted 20 May 2007
Library Management
Vol. 29 No. 1/2, 2008
pp. 51-66
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120810844649
of Queensland is a member of the Universitas 21 consortium, a network of 17
research-intensive universities across nine countries. It is also part of the Group of
Eight, a consortium of Australia’s leading universities.
The UQ Library
The UQ Library has one of the largest collections amongst academic libraries in
Australia and by far the largest in Queensland. The collection comprises: over 2.5
million volumes; 11,265 print journals and 46,101 electronic journals; 876 networked
databases; 365,633 electronic books and 31,763 videos. Over 20 service points deliver
services up to 84 hours per week over 14 branch libraries located at the St Lucia,
Gatton and Ipswich campuses and in the major teaching hospitals. Service delivery
through branch libraries is supported by centralised processing and administrative
services for the whole system. Personnel are recruited centrally and library materials
are ordered and processed centrally. Policies are developed by the Library as a whole,
by participation of as many staff as possible.
In 1998, the UQ Library was awarded joint first place in the institutional category of
the prestigious Australian Awards for University Teaching for its development and
implementation of the Library concept. In 2000, the Library won the same award for its
AskIT Computing Help and Training Service. The UQ Library is the only Library in
the country to have won this Teaching Award. In 2006, AskIT won a citation from the
Carrick Institute for training programmes that targets student needs and the Ask IT
team also won the University’s Faculty and Central Organization Unit Award for
outstanding contributions to student learning. In November 2006, the UQ Library
Multi-Media Team was selected for the Faculty Citation for Outstanding Contributions
to Student Learning.
Changes in international and national arenas and the UQ library’s position
Because of the changes occurring in the higher education arena, Australian university
libraries like its counterparts worldwide have had to develop new and collaborative
avenues of partnerships to stay in business. With the advent of stricter government
mandate in the areas of international education, technologies, copyright, and
globalisation of education, the influx of international students, librarians are required
to rethink everything from collection development to models of service responsiveness
to diverse populations (Becker, 2006).
Bologna Process and impact and implications in Australia
The Bologna Process is part of a process in Europe, which aims to establish a single
European Higher Education Area by 2010, focusing on curriculum and quality
assurance. In April 2006, the Federal Minister of Education, Science and Training,
released a discussion paper – The Bologna Process and Australi a: Next Steps.
Submissions were invited from the higher education sector on how the federal
government and individual institutions should respond to the Bologna Process (under
which 45 European signatory countries were creating “a series of reforms intended to
create an integrated European higher education area by 2010”). The reform focused on
greater consistency in degree structures, credit transfer and quality assurance systems
with the overall objective of greater mobility of graduates and greater transferability of
their qualifications.
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