14 December 2018
According to a new report published by OpenAthens, 'Librarians’ experiences in providing access to digital content', growing numbers of students and researchers are working from home, on mobile devices or in off-site locations, which is causing a surge in the demand for remote access to library resources.
Ninety-eight per cent of librarians involved in the study have witnessed this increased demand and nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of respondents to the survey also said they expected remote access to continue growing over the next 12 months. Librarians cited a number of reasons for this shift including the technology-driven rise in ‘flexible’ working, the growth of distance learning and other new learning models and time pressures forcing people to limit their research to the evenings and weekends when they are at home.
This increasingly flexible mobile approach to working has seen librarians forced to adapt in order to provide digital content that can be accessed and consumed from anywhere, creating both opportunities and challenges. Library staff require greater technical expertise than ever before to support the rise in ‘off-site’ access, according to 77 per cent of librarians.
End users also require greater technical skills to ensure they get the most out of their institutions’ resources, according to 71 per cent of respondents. The need to help users enhance their digital skills and literacy came through in the comments, together with more online support being made available by libraries to reduce user frustrations.
However, several potential benefits of remote access were recognised, including the opportunity to increase use of licensed library resources, according to 88 per cent of librarians. It can facilitate increased engagement with users, 56 per cent of respondents said, while 55 per cent believe off-site access can help them gain a better understanding of what users do with the information available, assisted by increasingly sophisticated tools for tracking and analysing user behaviour online.
There was almost universal agreement – 99 per cent – that access management is ‘critical’ if librarians are to meet end-user needs, maximise investment in resources and improve outcomes. But less than a third of librarians (31 per cent) feel that decisions about access management are given the necessary priority by other stakeholders within their organisation.
Sponsored by OpenAthens, the research gathered information from more than 900 librarians working in different sectors across the globe in spring 2018 and was designed to gain an insight into current thinking on identity and access management. The report, 'Librarians’ experiences in providing access to digital content', is available on the OpenAthens website.