This report describes an eLib Supporting Study, funded by the JISC and managed by the Tavistock Institute as part of the summative evaluation activities of the eLib programme. This Study was performed by the International Institute for Electronic Library Research at De Montfort University. It focused on the potential for eLib to stimulate or 'mobilise' the higher education (HE) community towards positive cultural change, that would facilitate the uptake and usefulness of electronic resources such as the innovations developed within the eLib programme.
The report describes the rationale and assumptions behind the Study, and the activities undertaken which included a literature review, construction of a stakeholder model, interviews with key actors connected with eLib, examination of project and programme deliverables, and presentation at a workshop involving invited experts.
The findings of the Study focus largely on whether eLib has created appropriate preconditions for longer-term cultural change, since little explicit cultural change could be discerned from the available material. Relevant facilitating and inhibiting factors for cultural change were identified, and future needs and recommendations for successor programmes are discussed in detail.
Among the findings were a general recognition that eLib is only a contributor to the general cultural change which is happening in HE, and specifically in the library and information service context. The role of previously-marginalised stakeholders such as publishers and library schools were highlighted by interviewees and workshop participants as being particularly important for future programmes. Publisher relationships, especially concerning issues such as copyright, severely impede current progress and hence the potential for real cultural change, although the programme has motivated publishers to participate more fully than previously. Library schools need to be more actively involved in future efforts, to ensure that their curricula reflect the professional needs of librarians in the changing environment.
Training and Awareness activities, intended to be the greatest instigator of cultural change out of the various eLib programme areas, have achieved many impressive objectives but could be improved in future programmes with more careful user needs analysis, some targeting at middle management, greater involvement of library schools, and some focus on generic issues and relevant professional skills.
Overall, projects in this type of innovation programme need to be encouraged from the start to take an approach which is both human centred and organisationally aware, rather than focusing too narrowly on technical and short-term practical problems. Finally, greater efficiency in the programme, which might be achieved via central provision of expertise and greater coordination in relationships with publishers, would enable tightly-funded and time-stretched projects to consider the 'bigger picture' in terms of their contribution to cultural change in their institution and beyond.
The project team wish to express their gratitude to all the eLib programme and project staff who contributed in any way to this Supporting Study. In particular, the interviewees and workshop participants contributed hours of their time and made many important comments and recommendations, which we hope we have reflected fairly in this report. In addition, we should like to thank John Kelleher of the Evaluation Development and Review Unit, at The Tavistock Institute, for his support and advice throughout the project. We are also especially grateful to the IMPEL2 team at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, for sharing or supplying a great deal of background information. We are also grateful to Kelly Russell and Yanna Dandolos (of the eLib Programme office at the University of Warwick) for supplying most of the project deliverables for our analysis.
The Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) was funded
by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
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