Ithaka S+R is a “not-for-profit service that helps the academic community navigate economic and technological change.” They published the results of an extensive survey of academic library directors on the strategy and directions for the libraries. This is a triennial survey and is part of a collection of related surveys of faculty and students. This is a very informative survey and I strongly encourage you to read through it carefully. The authors point out that there are significant differences in many areas of the survey by the institution type. But, there are several topics in which there are commonalities. It is notable that the response rate for Baccalaureate institutions is only 43% whereas for Doctoral institutions is 68%.

Here are the key findings:

• Library directors anticipate increased resource allocation towards services and predict the most growth for positions related to teaching and research support.
• Library directors are deeply committed to supporting student success, yet many find it difficult to articulate these contributions.
• Collections have been digitally transformed, and directors are interested in expanding their collecting to include more non-textual materials.
• Library directors are increasingly recognizing that discovery does not and should not always happen in the library.
• Library directors are pursuing strategic directions with a decreasing sense of support from their institutions.

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