The Coin of Love and Virtue: Academic Libraries and Value in a Global Pandemic

In September 2010, the Association of College and Research Libraries released The Value of Academic Libraries: A Comprehensive Research Review and Report. The spread of the novel coronavirus and the resulting global pandemic has raised questions about the concept of value in academic libraries. How is value attributed? How does value function? What does it mean to demonstrate or prove our value? We begin with an overview and analysis of ACRL’s Value of Academic Libraries Initiative. We then provide a description and timeline of the spread of COVID-19 and the reaction of both institutions of higher education, academic libraries, professional library organizations, and individual librarians. The pandemic has created a new category of workers - “essential workers” - who provide vital services, perform maintenance work, and labor to keep infrastructures intact. The role of carework and careworkers in the pandemic helps illuminate the situation of academic librarians within regimes of neoliberal austerity. Ultimately we argue that although the discourse of library value seeks to prove library value rationally and empirically, through a lot of quantitative data, capitalism, the economy, and value are fundamentally irrational. Academic library value must be claimed politically; misrecognizing the nature of the problem and relying on commonsense understandings of value and the economic, which is what the discourse of library value has done for the past decade, goes nowhere.

“If you try to close them I will stab you in the eye with a fork”: interpretative repertoires in public library value statements

In July 2018, an online post advocating the replacement of libraries with Amazon outlets produced an outpouring of responses that articulated and debated the value of the public library. These value statements represent multiple, intertwined, and sometimes contradictory perspectives expressed in interpretative repertoires. These repertoires cluster around statements of value to the individual and value to society at large and include an association between libraries and the physical print book.

Hunting for the library value

International cooperation is an essential part of library and information professionals' work. Three European health and medical libraries started a benchmarking project in year 2013, aiming at comparing services among our libraries in order to find and implement best practices. We wanted to share ideas, solutions and examples. The purpose of this paper is to give the final report of the five-year benchmarking project. The project was a continuous best-practice benchmarking process. At the end the process, we essentially experienced this kind of library benchmarking as a communication and development tool. International benchmarking provides new skills for information professionals

Communicating value through strategic engagement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore ways in which “library value” may be communicated in a university setting through more effective engagement with strategic planning and a broader array of campus partners. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a case study of an academic library in which alignment with the university mission and strategic plan and alignment of library assessment efforts with the broader culture of assessment at the university have resulted in positive gains for the library in terms of campus engagement and recognition of library value. Findings This paper provides insights into successful strategies for improved communication of library value to senior leadership, new investment in library facilities, and enhanced opportunities for collaboration across the university on strategic initiatives including student success, innovation in teaching and scholarship, and community engagement. Originality/value This paper provides library leaders with new approaches to engagement with campus partners and senior academic leadership in promoting the library as a strategic resource worthy of investment in the twenty-first century.