Jennifer Frederick
Senior Surveys Analyst
Ithaka S+R
Christine Wolff-Eisenberg
Manager, Surveys and Research
Ithaka S+R
This past spring, Ithaka S+R released the results of our U.S. Library Survey 2019 — fielded just months before the COVID-19 outbreak — with the CNI community. Since then, the pandemic has greatly changed how the higher education sector supports research, teaching, and learning at a distance, under extraordinarily complicated and difficult circumstances. How has the pandemic changed the strategies and priorities of academic library leaders? What approaches have leaders taken to balance institutional priorities, financial constraints, and staff physical and psychological safety? In the face of these challenges, we fielded a special edition of our ongoing library director series to capture the strategies library leaders have adopted during the crisis. We heard from 43% of library leaders nationally on their approaches to budgeting and planning, staffing, collections, and digital and physical services and space. Comparisons with previous survey cycles will illustrate shifts in leadership practices and perspectives as libraries worked through the challenges of the pandemic. Join Jennifer K. Frederick and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg as we discuss key findings for the first time in conjunction with the Fall 2020 CNI meeting.
Transforming Library Leadership Strategy in a Time of Crisis