by Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Ed
In an interview, Mr. Schonfeld said that the 2013 survey respondents were “nearly unanimous” in their emphasis on teaching research skills to undergraduates; 97 percent of library heads rated that part of their mission as very important. “Everyone’s committed to undergraduates,” he said. That emphasis carries over into staffing plans. Forty-two percent of respondents at baccalaureate colleges said they planned to expand staffing in instruction, instructional design, and information-literacy services over the next five years, as did 44 percent at doctoral universities and 53 percent at master’s-level institutions. Mr. Schonfeld pointed out one interesting change from the 2010 to the 2013 findings: “a modest but noticeable decline” in the percentage of head librarians who described their library’s role in supporting faculty research as “very important.”
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