ACRL Issues Statement for Communicating Library Value to Academic Leaders

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) released a statement on the value of academic libraries to be used by library leaders as a communication tool with academic leaders on their campuses such as provosts and presidents. Academic libraries provide critical direct and indirect value to institutions of higher education in the following areas:

1. support recruitment, retention and matriculation,
2. enhance student learning,
3. support faculty research and teaching, and
4. raise institutional visibility and contribute to the community.

The statement was developed by ACRL’s value of academic libraries committee and approved by the ACRL Board of Directors at their meeting on June 25, 2016. The statement consists of an executive summary, followed by longer talking points.

“Within the evolving landscape and new roles of academic and research librarianship, the Value of Academic Libraries statement provides an avenue to engage academic leaders in conversations with their librarian leadership. These discussions are intended to raise issues of institutional importance, highlighting librarians’ contributions and support,” remarked ACRL president Irene M.H. Herold, university librarian at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. “ACRL remains committed to providing tools to help the academic and research library workforce effectively navigate changes in higher education environments.”

“We heard a need from the broader community for brief statements that library leaders could use to communicate library value to colleagues within institutions of higher education,” noted Jaime Hammond, chair of ACRL’s value of academic libraries committee and director of library services at Naugatuck Valley Community College. Find the statement online as part of ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries website.

h/t to Joseph Hafner