The Academic Library and its Users

Citation

Morgan, S. (1999), "The Academic Library and its Users", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 2-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.5.2.3

This excellent book brings the reader up to date on the relationship between academic library services and their users. The examples are taken mainly from the University library sector. It is interesting to note that the author prefers the terms “user′′ and “user education” throughout. The only time I felt the pull of the “customer” is Chapter 2 which considers quality and the user. Following that he reverts back to his preferred terminology. The author has resisted the temptation to be overelaborate in some fashionable areas such as customer care, charterism, focus groups but instead has provided detailed references for eager readers. The book opens with a stagesetting look at the academic environment including the key reports ‐‐ Parry, Atkinson and Follett. We are then plunged into the previously mentioned chapter on service quality, user expectations and quality assessment. I suppose the following two chapters form the heart of the book, exploring the different types of user ‐‐ full‐time, part‐time, under/postgraduate, lecturers, researchers, overseas students, distance learners, students with special needs, those studying on franchised courses ‐‐ together with their behaviour patterns and expectations. Included here are interesting discussions about user studies, student confusion and library anxiety (a serious challenge on which we′ve really made little progress), theft and mutilation and the inevitable noise factor. Nowadays, this latter issue seems to be of greater concern to the users than the library staff. The challenge of providing effective services to such a disparate group is fully explored.

Particularly interesting and rarely written about is the topic of subject communities which is covered in Chapter 5. Here the author has a good feel for what users working within specific disciplines look for from their library service and from their subject librarians. The debate surrounding the role of the subject librarian in these times of flexibility, financial austerity and electronic wizardry is only touched upon but is one that needs to be had fairly soon. After a short chapter on the needs of researchers, Jordan offers a summary of where we are with user education. He admits that there is still much to be done and believes that academics and librarians ‐‐ now more than ever ‐‐ need to work together to enhance learning and not be jealously guarding each other′s territories. Hear, Hear! Perhaps information technology is the common denominator that can bring the two sides closer together and at the same time address the user anxiety mentioned above. Preceding the final short chapter which looks to the future is a thought‐provoking chapter on publicity and promotion. Marketing generally has an ambivalent position in the academic library sector. On the one hand any successful marketing strategy will tailor service to need, on the other hand the increased awareness that comes with promotion and publicity will inevitably put pressure on an already stretched service.

This well‐written book has something for everyone working in the academic library sector ‐‐ from the assistant at the issue desk right through to the service manager. The author discusses many of the issues which tax the minds of academic librarians in a thoughtful and constructive way. It should have a place on the shelves of all University libraries and on the reading lists of all LIS courses.