Changes

Academic libraries are caught in budget squeezes and often struggle to find ways to communicate value to senior administration and others. At Brooklyn College Library, we have taken an unusual, possibly unique, approach to these issues. Our technology staff have long worked directly with librarians to develop products that meet library, faculty, and student needs, and we have shared many of our products with colleagues, including an award-winning website, e-resource, and content management system we call 4MyLibrary, which we shared for free with 8 CUNY colleges, and also an easy-to-use book scanner, which has proven overwhelming popular with students, faculty, other librarians, and numerous campus offices. Recently, motivated by budget cuts, we decided that what worked for us might interest other libraries, and working with our Office of Technology Commercialization, we started selling 2 products: our book scanners (at half the price of commercial alternatives), and a hosting service, whereby we could host and support 4MyLibrary for libraries with minimal technology staff. Both succeeded, and yielded major benefits: a steady revenue stream and the admiration and serious goodwill of our senior administration and others. However, this presentation is neither a basic how-to, nor an advertisement. With this presentation, we hope to spur a conversation for broader collaboration, especially regarding new technologies, among libraries. We all have some level of technical expertise, most of us are struggling with rising prices and tight budgets, and many of us are unhappy with various technology products we use, from scanners to our ILS. We believe – and can demonstrate – that with collaboration, we can solve many of our problems, and provide better services to boot.

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