Developing the New Learning Environment: The Changing Role of the Academic Librarian

Citation

Parry, F. (2006), "Developing the New Learning Environment: The Changing Role of the Academic Librarian", The Electronic Library, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 279-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470610660431

This is an edited work focussing on the academic librarian's role in the delivery of learning support. It is less concerned with traditional librarian roles such as subject liaison or collection building than with the diverse range of activities involved in providing outreach programmes. Some chapters are written by and for librarians, but others are written by specialist learning support professionals and are intended for librarians working in collaborative, institution‐wide teams.

The book has two major sections: perspectives on the policy framework; policy into practice. It is topped and tailed by introductory and summary chapters from the editors. Each chapter has a context‐setting introductory paragraph written by the editors which has the effect of making the book flow more effectively.

Some of the highlights of the first section include Peter Brophy's critical review of the policy framework. This describes the operating context of the academic library within the UK higher education environment. It reprises some of the themes which will be familiar to those who have read Brophy's “The academic library” though with a marked emphasis on the learning support role. Dorothy Williams' clearly presented review of literacies and learning brings us up to date on the literature in this field and is a cogently argued chapter demonstrating what Williams calls the “strong inter‐relationship between information seeking and using and learning outcomes”. Allison Littlejohn's chapter on the design and delivery of technology‐enhanced learning deals effectively with the concept of how to integrate the formal library resources in digital repositories with the informal work of students such as reports, notes, essays, annotations and the like. It also reflects on the problems of teaching large classes and how to stimulate productive interactivity and effective learning.

Sue Roberts, in the final chapter of the first section, asks how library and information staff have responded to the learning and teaching emphasis of their roles. In the first chapter of the second – or “practice” – section of this book, this issue is dealt with in some detail along with another concern which is not always fully appreciated when considering the librarian's learning support role: the reaction of other academic professionals to the changing role of the academic librarian. Hence this perspective on new academic teams is probably the core chapter in this collection. It features several case studies and professional cameos which I found very enlightening. Judith Peacock makes a call for a formalisation of librarians' involvement in learning support at an institutional level in her overview of information literacy education in practice. There is also an overview of work being done on the “inclusion agenda” which considers the implications of setting up programmes for disabled learners.

This is a carefully thought‐out and presented series of studies. All benefit from extensive research from practitioners in the field and from the inclusion of up‐to‐date references at the end of each chapter. It is a worthy addition to the literature on learning support in academic institutions.