Introduction

Paula Kaufman speaks at the 2008 DLS

The 2008 DLS - Elsevier's 10th! - explored how the library's role is assessed from various persepectives, ranging from Millennials' to administrators'.

Held in Philadelphia during the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting, the DLS was attended by more than 200 academic librarians. Addressing the theme of “Assessing the Library’s Role: From Millennials to Administrators,” three university librarians reported on their research. Two focused on the Millennial generation – people born from about 1979 to 1994, and one looked at articulating library value in terms of return on investment.

Elsevier Global Academic & Customer Relations Senior Vice President Karen Hunter organized and moderated the symposium. Speakers included New Jersey Institute of Technology University Librarian Richard Sweeney, University of Florida Senior Associate Dean of University Libraries John Ingram and University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Paula Kaufman.

2008 DLS (Theme: Assessing the Library's Role)

UF Senior Associate Dean of University Libraries John Ingram's talk

John spoke on Millennials' information needs. To understand this generation’s library needs, he runs focus groups with his students and high-school students. His findings could suggest a new paradigm for undergraduate library services.

UIUC University Librarian & Dean of Libraries Paula Kaufman's talk

Paula spoke on the academic library's ROI. For details on points she covered, see the Library Connect white paper, "University Investment in the Library: What's the Return? A Case Study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."

NJIT University Librarian Richard Sweeney's talk

Rich spoke on characteristics of this generation. He went on to ask questions crucial to consider when providing services and products supporting young scholars: How can we give Millennials the flexibility, convenience, choice and control over their time that they want? How can we provide relevant, efficient services? How can we offer “learning by doing” experiences? See Rich's presentation.

2007 DLS (Theme: Collaboration)

CRKN Executive Director Deb deBruijn's talk

Deb spoke on “The Changing Nature of Consortia: Building Serious Interdependence.” See Deb's presentation.

Microsoft Senior Researcher Cathy Marshall's talk

Cathy spoke on personal digital libraries. See Cathy's presentation.

Elsevier Senior Vice President Karen Hunter's talk

Karen spoke on “Publishers and Librarians: Competitors or Collaborators?” See Karen's presentation.