International Federation of Library Associations Report on Library Leadership Programs

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) recently published a report on Learning to Lead: A Scan of Global Library Field Practice:

"A major focus for IFLA is ensuring that emerging leaders have opportunities to gain experience and recognition. As a result, IFLA is keen to provide its members with a reference document that outlines the types of leadership programmes available, highlighting their commonalities, differences, and evidence of impacts where possible."

"The Learning to Lead: A Scan of Global Library Field Practice is the first of-its-kind IFLA publication, aiming to provide a representative and comprehensive overview of leadership programmes run by library associations, libraries, museums, archives, and related organisations. It identifies their objectives, methods, and impact data, as well as key features and commonalities. It also aims to support library associations and libraries in their own decision-making about leadership programmes, and enable IFLA to make strategic decisions regarding its future leadership initiatives."

"This report employed a survey methodology as the primary research tool for collecting data for analysis over the period from October to November 2024. The web-based questionnaire was sent to 143 active IFLA Associations and 1129 IFLA volunteers/individuals. To boost the number of programmes surveyed and reviewed, the team also selected leadership programmes from the Arabella Advisors report that was released in January 2015, the total number of programmes reviewed were 66. It is worth mentioning that several criteria were applied in selecting the leadership programmes."

IFLA is an international, non-governmental organization that advances the interests of library and information associations, as well as those of librarians and the communities they serve throughout the world.

Formed in 1927, the Federation has its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

 

Serials Price Projection Report for 2025

Library services provider EBSCO Information Services has just published its  2025 Serials Price Projection Report.

"Each year, we conduct an extensive survey of publishers and analyze incoming pricing data to provide informed serials price projections. These insights are designed to assist libraries and publishers for the upcoming renewal season, offering a view of the financial landscape ahead."

"While our forecasts are grounded in analysis, we advise our partners to understand that these are estimates, and while insightful, are subject to change."

"As of this report’s publication, we anticipate that the overall effective publisher price increases for 2025 will fall within the ranges presented in the table before any currency impact."

The report estimates that the price increases are expected to be (before any currency impact) in the range of 4 to 5 percent for individual e-journal titles, 3.5 to 4.5 percent for e-journal packages and 5 to 6 percent for print titles.

On the impact of currency fluctuations, the report states:

"For customers in the U.K. and Eurozone countries, generally 50 to 60 percent of content spend is priced by publishers in their local currencies. Libraries in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, South Africa, and other countries generally have much higher ratios of spend allocated to titles priced in other currencies and therefore can expect currency fluctuations to have a more significant impact on their budgets."

"As always, and depending on library location geographically, EBSCO recommends customers add an additional 2 to 4 percent to the estimated price increases when budgeting to protect themselves from a possible shift in currency in which they are invoiced between now and the time subscription payments are made."

Survey of Plans for Law Library Print Materials Collection

Primary Research Group, a New York-based publisher of research reports and surveys about libraries, is surveying law librarians about their plans for their print materials collections. 

Earlier editions of the same survey include:

• Survey of Law Library Plans for the Print Materials Collection, 2018 Edition: "Just a few of this 84-page report’s many findings are that: For smaller law firm libraries in the sample the change in overall mean print spending from 2016 to 2018 was a cumulative drop of $25,249 or 12%.   This was a lower decrease than for many other types of law library in the sample; Primary legal works accounted for a mean of 25.78% of the sampled libraries print materials budget with a median of 30% and a range of 0 to 70%; Non-law firm corporate and government libraries cull an annual mean of 7.29% of their book collections; Most of the print subscription volume was in larger law libraries with more than 3 full time equivalent librarians, though it should be noted that many of these were not university law libraries; Data in the report is broken out for US and Canadian libraries, and by library size and type, i.e., university law library, courthouse law library, other government/corporate law library, and for two categories of law firm library, those serving fewer than and more than 150 lawyers."
• Survey of Law Library Plans for the Print Materials Collection, 2020 Edition: "Just a few of the report’s many findings are that: The government law libraries in the sample spent a mean of $774,000 on print materials in the past year; Canadian law libraries in the sample culled a mean of 6.38% of the book collections in the past year; Large law libraries with 5 or more librarians reduced the number of print subscriptions to law journals that they maintain by nearly 19% in 2019; Small and medium-sized law firm libraries expect to increase their spending significantly on print editions of newspapers and magazines in 2020; Primary legal works accounted for a mean of 34.21% of the print materials budget for the organizations sampled."
• Survey of Law Library Plans for the Print Materials Collection, 2022 Edition: "Just a few of the 111-page report’s many findings are that: The Canadian law libraries in the sample vastly outspent the US ones on print materials; Libraries headed by individuals under age 60 spent far less on print materials than those headed by individuals over age 60; Collection culling of print materials was slightly higher in the USA than in Canada; For law school libraries, print materials accounted for 33.67% of the print materials budget; Spending on print directories by the libraries sampled is expected to fall by 15% in 2022."

American Libraries Releases 2024 Library Systems Report

The magazine American Libraries has released the 2024 Library Systems Report, its most recent annual report on the worldwide library technology industry.

"The library technology industry had a quiet year in 2023. But in the absence of major business moves and acquisitions, companies set their sights on executing strategies to strengthen their market position."

"Previous cycles of business consolidation have yielded a layered landscape with distinct levels of competition. At the top, a handful of large organizations with considerable resources—Clarivate, EBSCO Information Services, Follett School Solutions, and OCLC—continue to expand their portfolios, covering multiple business sectors and library types. Middle-tier companies, including Axiell, ByWater Solutions, The Library Corporation (TLC), and SirsiDynix, offer growing suites of products used by thousands of libraries. And finally, a group of smaller companies round out the industry, covering specialized libraries with niche products and services."

"Competition at each level remains vigorous. Libraries may have fewer product choices because of past acquisitions, but the options remaining are distinctive. Most libraries can choose between for-profit and nonprofit vendors, and between proprietary and open source products. For instance, academic libraries can pick from a short list of library services platforms (LSPs), including a proprietary solution from a for-profit company (Alma), an open source product supported by for-profit companies (FOLIO), or a proprietary product from a nonprofit organization (WorldShare Management Services)."

"Libraries see their technology vendors as strategic partners. They are increasingly purchasing core products from a single provider, rewarding companies’ efforts to create suites of integrated applications that function more efficiently than mix-and-match offerings. These days, libraries expect third-party integration from their products—but they generally acquire new components from a single main vendor."

The report is written by Marshall Breeding, a well-known library tech expert. He also edits the Library Technology Guides website and produces the annual international Library Automation Perceptions Surveys.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Upcoming Webinar on Data Analytics

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 1:30-2:30 ET on Introduction to Data Analytics.

The speaker is Sarah A. Sutherland, Parallax Information Consulting:

"Information professionals often perform basic data analytics, scrutinizing what has happened in the past, as part of the decision-making process and to optimize operation efficiencies, among other reasons. In this session, attendees will obtain a general overview of the different types of data analytics and the circumstances in which each can be utilized. They will also gain an understanding of the forms of data analysis that law firms are/should be implementing, and the benefits of doing so. Attendees are encouraged to share their experiences. What internal data analysis is your employer implementing? What legal data are you being asked to track down and what data analytics resources do you subscribe to?"

The CALL National Office will soon send out the registration link.

March/April 2024 Issue of AALL Spectrum

The March/April 2024 issue of AALL Spectrum is now available online.

It is a publication of the American Association of Law Libraries. 

Among the feature articles in this issue:

• From 0 to 7 Staff Members: Essential Tips From the Trenches for First-Time Managers
• Who Are You? An Introduction to Professional Identity Formation
• Ask A Director: Balancing Hybrid/Remote Work

Law Library Benchmarks, 2024-25

Primary Research Group, a New York-based publisher of research reports and surveys about higher education libraries, has published the report Law Library Benchmarks, 2024-25 ($168US):

"This report presents detailed data from 44 law libraries in the USA and Canada with data broken out separately by size of library and for law firm libraries, university law libraries, courthouse libraries, and all other."

"The study gives its readers detailed benchmarking data on current and future spending plans, with specific data sets for the overall budget, payroll, salaries, overall materials spending, online information, print information, reporters, legal and other scholarly journals, books (eBook and print) purchased from Amazon, books purchased from all other sources, subscription blogs, seminars and professional development and more.  The study also looks at spending plans on particular suppliers of legal information."

Among the major findings in the report:

• Survey respondents were spending a mean of about 27% of their overall work time working from home.
• Courthouse libraries in the sample accounted for almost all spending on print reporters.
• More than 46% of university law librarians in the sample say that use of artificial intelligence has made them more productive.

Primary Research Group has published many law library-related surveys in the past.

Survey for Law Library Benchmarks, 2024-25

New York-based Primary Research Group will soon publish a new edition of Law Library Benchmarks, a survey of law libraries.

US and Canadian law libraries that contribute through a survey will receive a free copy of Law Library Benchmarks, 2024-25 Edition.

Primary Research Group has published many law library-related surveys in the past.

OCLC Global Survey on the Library in the Future

The international library technology and research organization OCLC conducted a global survey recently to see how libraries were approaching planning for the future.

There were respondents from dozens of countries, the top five being the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Among the major findings:

• Libraries will increasingly play the role of “space providers”
• Demand for open access in academic libraries will intensify
• Resource sharing through consortia will increase
• Partnerships with non-profit and government agencies will increase for public libraries
• Academic librarians expect increased partnerships with consortia and other libraries
• Library workers may see more flexible working options and access to mental health care
• Additional need for data analytics is expected

Just over half of respondents are from academic (or education) libraries. Nearly a third (30%) are from public libraries and 18% are from other library types, such as government and special libraries. 

 

Slides from July Open House of the Canadian Shared Print Network

North: the Canadian Shared Print Network is a national initiative to coordinate the evaluation and identification of uniquely held print materials, and the securing of long-term retention commitments to protect against the risk of loss of those unique titles.

It has 3 major project streams: monographs published by Canadian University Presses; Indigenous works; and scarce government documents.

It held an open house earlier in July. A video and the presentation slides are available.

Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:

• @Risk North Summary Report on Shared Print Preservation Programs (February 13, 2018): "As libraries witness increasing demand for online resources and dwindling circulation of print holdings, while simultaneously confronting budget and space pressures, it can be challenging to remain committed to sustaining academic libraries’ print collections. Cooperative approaches to acquiring, storing, preserving, and managing the reduction of print collections are gaining traction, employing a variety of models that seek to distribute the expense and responsibility while creating value for all parties." 
• Final Report on Creation of National Shared Print Network in Canada (September 16, 2020): "A joint working group of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has released its final report with recommendations on the creation of a collective shared print program across Canadian libraries. The Canadian Collective Print Strategy Working Group made up of representatives from key academic, public, and government libraries, and from regional consortia makes thirteen recommendations for the successful establishment of a national shared print network in Canada..."

American Library Association Report on Binding Services for Print

Core, a division of the American Library Association, has released the 2022 Core Library Binding Survey: A Report of Findings.

It is based on a survey on current library binding practices in the United States.

The survey was conducted to gain a better understanding of who is using library binding as a preservation and access method, how they are using such services, and the challenges that face the community.

There were responses from 94 institutions, most of them academic.

Questions included:

• To whom does your bindery unit report?
• What did you spend on library binding for each of the fiscal years below, NOT including staffing?
• How many items did you send to the library binder in each of these fiscal years? (2018 to 2022)
• What percentage of your current library binding program is made up of each of the following material types? (e.g. monographs, government docs, etc.)
• If your institution has off site storage, do you regularly bind items going directly to storage from acquisition?
• What type of library binder do you use?
• etc.

American Libraries Releases 2023 Library Systems Report

The magazine American Libraries has released the 2023 Library Systems Report, its most recent annual report on the worldwide library technology industry.

"In recent years, business acquisitions have brought high-stakes changes to the library technology industry, creating seismic shifts in the balance of power. But other events in 2022—primarily advances in open source software—have even bigger implications for the market. Although proprietary products continue to dominate, open source alternatives are becoming increasingly competitive (...) "

"The 2023 Library Systems Report documents ongoing investments of libraries in strategic technology products in 2022. It covers for-profit and nonprofit organizations that offer strategic resource management products—especially integrated library systems and library services platforms—and comprehensive discovery products."

"The vendors included have responded to a survey requesting details about their organization, sales performance, and narrative explanations of accomplishments. Additional sources consulted include press releases, news articles, and other publicly available information. Most of the organizations provided lists of libraries represented in the statistics reported, allowing for more detailed analysis and validation."

The report is written by Marshall Breeding, a well-known library tech expert. He also edits the Library Technology Guides website and produces the annual International Library Automation Perceptions Surveys.

College and Research Libraries Article on Library Systems Maintenance

The most recent issue of the journal College and Research Libraries has a feature article entitled Indispensable, Interdependent, and Invisible: A Qualitative Inquiry into Library Systems Maintenance.

I admit library systems is an area to which I need to pay more attention.

From the intro:

"This article focuses on what has been traditionally known as the Integrated Library System or ILS, because it remains core to the operation of academic libraries."

"The ILS is the site of acquisitions, catalog record and item maintenance, and circulation management. It provides data to the library’s public catalog or discovery system and can be queried for statistical analysis of item use and overviews of holdings. Despite its centrality to the work of the library, its maintenance is rarely discussed in the literature of the profession. Yet an incomplete understanding of ILS maintenance is an incomplete understanding of the very thing that keeps the library functioning."

"In this article, maintenance is defined to include regular system upgrades, updating system settings, addressing bugs and issues, upkeep of integrations with other institutional systems, and minor tasks to improve user experience or support existing functions. The latter type of work spans maintenance and innovation,5 but when it consists of bringing existing systems into alignment with expectations and work already being performed, it aligns closely with other areas of maintenance included here. The term “library systems maintainer” is used here because not all maintainers are librarians, and to emphasize that those in this role also support interoperability between the ILS and some or all other technical systems used in the library."

The author is Ruth Kitchin Tillman at at Penn State University Libraries.

Canadian Federation of Library Associations Fall 2022 Update

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CLFA) has published an update about its recent activities.

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries is a member of the Federation.

The update includes news about advocacy activities on behalf of the Canadian library community, copyright reform, consultations relating to the 2023 federal budget, the release of residential school records, a new cataloguing code of ethics, the education of library technicians, and more

Public Health Crisis Management Playbook for Archives, Libraries, and Museums

The REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) Project has published a Public Health Crisis Management Playbook for Archives, Libraries, and Museums.

REALM is a collaboration between OCLC, an international library services cooperative, the US government agency Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle.

The document outlines processes, resources, and tools to aid cultural heritage institutions when planning for, navigating through, and recovering from a significant public health emergency. 

It covers the following topics:

• Crisis leadership - Provides starting points for crisis management and communications planning
• Facilities and operations - Offers considerations for determining processes for decision-making about collections management, space configuration, building systems, and safety protocols
• Crisis decision-making and risk management - Overviews risk assessment, information gathering, and decision-making during uncertain times
• Resource networks - Shares strategies for identifying partners and maintaining collaborative relationships, including a tool for visualizing an institution’s potential partners during a crisis
• Resources for more information - Provides all resources used to develop the playbook, as well as additional materials that can be used in developing a public health crisis management plan

New IFLA Guidelines for Professional LIS Education Programmes

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) has released the Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Education Programmes (adopted in April 2022).

"The development of the Guidelines were informed by the published literature, existing national and international standards, expertise of the BSLISE [Building Strong Library and Information Science Education], and consultation with LIS education and professional stakeholders across the globe (...)"

"The Guidelines serve as a framework for developing LIS education programmes, which stakeholders can apply in planning, developing and assessing the quality of LIS education and identify the knowledge areas LIS professionals should have in order to practice and continue to develop. They have been created to be applicable at any level of higher education. These Guidelines will assist programmes as they continue to adapt to the ever-changing needs of their community, as well as allow for greater degrees of mobility of LIS professionals across the globe."

Launch of North: The Canadian Shared Print Network

A partnership between  Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC), and regional academic library consortia recently launched North: The Canadian Shared Print Network.

It is a national initiative to coordinate the evaluation and identification of uniquely held print materials, and the securing of long-term retention commitments to protect against the risk of loss of those unique titles.

On the website, one can read a brief description of existing print preservation initiatives and the network's project streams (monographs published by Canadian University Presses; Indigenous works; scarce government documents).

Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:

• @Risk North Summary Report on Shared Print Preservation Programs (February 13, 2018): "As libraries witness increasing demand for online resources and dwindling circulation of print holdings, while simultaneously confronting budget and space pressures, it can be challenging to remain committed to sustaining academic libraries’ print collections. Cooperative approaches to acquiring, storing, preserving, and managing the reduction of print collections are gaining traction, employing a variety of models that seek to distribute the expense and responsibility while creating value for all parties." 
• Final Report on Creation of National Shared Print Network in Canada (September 16, 2020): "A joint working group of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has released its final report with recommendations on the creation of a collective shared print program across Canadian libraries. The Canadian Collective Print Strategy Working Group made up of representatives from key academic, public, and government libraries, and from regional consortia makes thirteen recommendations for the successful establishment of a national shared print network in Canada..."

Canadian Association of Research Libraries Releases Final Insights Report from Diversity and Inclusion Study

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries recently released the final Insights Report from its Diversity and Inclusion Study, prepared by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI Consulting).

From the press release:

"CARL conducted this study to gather baseline data on the composition of personnel in CARL libraries, gauge employee feedback on current EDI initiatives, and establish a set of benchmarks against which to evaluate and measure the impact of CARL libraries’ strategies and practices with respect to diversity and inclusion. CARL aims to measure progress through the conduct of the same or a comparable study in 3-5 years time (...)"

"Of 3742 employees invited to participate, 1299 respondents completed the survey, providing an overall completion rate of 34.7%. Please note that a response rate of 34.7% may not accurately reflect the demographics and views of each participating CARL member library. As such, CCDI Consulting could not confidently infer generalizations that are solely focused on demographic representations."

"Furthermore, findings in this report are based on the aggregate results of all 21 participating CARL member libraries and detailed analysis of each library is not provided. Each library will be facing unique circumstances and we recognize that some of the best practices reflected in this report may have been started or be in place at certain libraries. We further recognize that libraries are subject to the existing policies and practices of their parent institution, which can impact their capacity to implement the recommendations listed in the report."

Slaw Article on the End of Loose-Leafs

Slaw.ca today published a column by Amelia Landenberger on Loose-Leaf Legal Publications: A Dialogue that questions the purpose of loose-leaf publications in law libraries.

She is not a fan:

"Is there really any reason for loose-leaf publications in the age of electronic legal research? I understand that loose-leafs had a purpose when a typical bound-book publication schedule was too slow, and day by day updates were unwieldy for a researcher who wanted to know the status of an issue in certain rapidly-changing areas of law. Today, electronic publications can be updated much faster than loose-leafs, and without any of the hassle of shipping and inter-filing paper updates. Additionally, loose-leaf publications have no ability to be kept for historical research, so they are more hassle and less valuable than bound publications in print. I understand publishers are rapidly shifting away from this publication method, but I don’t understand why the shift has not been faster. In short, why do libraries still buy them?"

2022 International Library Automation Perceptions Survey

Every year since 2007, Library Technology Guides has conducted an International Library Automation Perceptions Survey.

The results for the most recent edition were published just the other day.

From the intro:

"The 2022 Library Automation Perceptions Report provides evaluative ratings submitted by individuals representing 2849 libraries from 95 countries describing experiences with 132 different automation products, including both proprietary and open source systems. Since last year, the survey is titled according to the year in which the report is published rather than when the survey period started. The survey results include 544 narrative comments providing candid statements -- both positive and negative – about the products and companies involved or statements of intent regarding future automation plans. This report analyzes the results of the survey, presents a variety of statistical tables based on the data collected, and provides some initial observations."

"It aims to provide information to libraries as they evaluate their options for strategic technology products and to the organizations involved in providing these products and services as constructive criticism to help guide improvements."

It is possible to view the results of all previous surveys on the Library Technology Guides website.

The website is maintained by Marshall Breeding, a well-known library automation expert.