Framing of academic libraries’ roles in the strategic documents of universities: A map of factors and agents

Abstract

Roles of academic libraries have recently been regularly discussed among Library and Information Science (LIS) scientists and practitioners. A shift of roles induced by various factors forces academic libraries to reconsider their operational guidelines and plan future scenarios. This article provides an analysis of the framing of roles assumed by academic libraries and identifies key factors and agents that influence the process. Research consisted of an analysis of official strategic documents of Lithuanian state-owned universities that are of great importance to the strategic development of academic libraries and the anchoring of their roles. Applying Laclau and Mouffe’s (2001) discourse theory and the concepts of new institutionalism as a theoretical approach, key factors and agents influential to the role of academic libraries were identified. Modernity, market, and quality as three interrelated discourses highlight the proposition that modernity is inseparable from the development of information technologies and infrastructure and that various professional networks in the library environment act as powerful institutional agents. Practices of market law application in universities have influence on the institutional logic of libraries which increasingly relies on the criteria of efficiency and rationality.

Citation

Petraitytė, S. (2014), "Framing of academic libraries’ roles in the strategic documents of universities: A map of factors and agents", Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Vol. 32), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 107-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0732-0671(2014)0000032002